A Sportsman 349 



season to get the early fishing, where I had several 

 days of notable success. 



Few bays could be more beautiful and romantic 

 than Carmelo — resting between two bold rocky prom- 

 ontories, on one of which, back from the shore, 

 are groups of a very rare tree, the true cedars of 

 Lebanon, not fovmd, I believe, elsewhere on the Amer- 

 ican continent. These cedars throw out their branches 

 in a most curious and grotesque manner, and would 

 instantly attract the notice of a passing totu-ist by 

 their remarkable appearance, so different from any- 

 thing seen before. When I passed them in the star- 

 light hour — as I did several times in early morning 

 or late evening — I never failed to be strongly im- 

 pressed by their weird and fantastic shapes. 



I had an experience at Carmelo one day with the 

 salmon which I doubt if any other mortal ever wit- 

 nessed the equal of. It was not yet light after my 

 drive from the Del Monte when I passed from the 

 remnant of an old wharf among the rocks on 

 the south shore of the bay to my waiting boat. The 

 morning was fogless, with a light breeze from the 

 west. A few pulls brought the boat over an im- 

 mense school of anchovies near the surface, with which 

 our jig of a short rod and ten feet of line, set with 

 a leaden sinker on the end and half a dozen bare 

 hooks, soon filled ovir bait bucket. This method is 

 followed for obtaining bait, by dropping down the 

 line and pulling it up quickly, when bushels of an- 

 chovies and sardines can be obtained if over a swarm- 

 ing school, as plentifully found in the bay waters 

 during the season. 



The long, heaving green waves from the Asiatic 



