and the Maritime Provinces. 237 



the salmon family is keen, perhaps not surpassed by the most favored of 

 the canine tribe. That sense of smell, which in animals so far surpasses 

 that of the human race that it may almost be accounted a new sense with 

 them, is probably possessed by the varieties of salmon, trout, and other 

 fishes in perfection ; and it may reasonably be presumed that the out- 

 reaching odors of streams, each peculiar and distinctive, extend by the 

 currents of the ocean for perhaps hundreds of miles from the shores. 

 These currents, permeated more or less, constitute to the denizens of the 

 deep, routes as familiar, perhaps, as landmarks on the shore are to the ani- 

 mal race. 



To those interested in the king of fishes, the salmon, the harbors of 

 Monterey and Santa Cruz present an opportunity of peculiar interest. 

 Here the salmon is found in pursuit of its natural food, and exhibiting 

 many features which give an insight into the ways which have been so 

 mysterious before. 



As an old fisherman with many years' experience with salmon and 

 trout, I am struck by the similarity of the two fish in feeding, — the salmon 

 in salt water, — in the method in striking the bait, and of following it up, 

 and in other features which would have attracted my particular interest, even 

 if I had not known of the existing relationship. Almost yearly the salmon 

 come into the Bay of Monterey, as well as that of Santa Cruz, and a few 

 other places on the coast, where they sometimes remain for months, and 

 pursue their feeding as other fish do, and where they are readily caught 

 with fresh-fish bait. 



When the salmon strike in about the bay, and generally near the 

 shore, which occurs here about the 10th of June, they do so in the pursuit 

 of squid, sardines, anchovies, smelts and other small fish, and their pres- 

 ence is first indicated to the fishermen by the occasional disturbance of the 

 surface-water by the small fish in their efforts to escape. This is a signal 

 for the Italians, Portuguese, and other market-fishermen to go out for them, 

 which they do in both sail and rowboats. These men all fish for the market, 

 and waste no time in sentiment. They are equipped with stout cotton 

 lines sufficiently strong to pull in salmon hand over hand. A stout sea 

 hook is used, with a sinker weighing half a pound. The line is about 200 

 feet in length, the sinker is attached a short distance above the hook, and 

 the line is payed out about 100 feet from the boat, and in the slow sailing 

 or rowing, which is about the same speed as followed in trolling for trout, 

 the bait sinks down twenty odd feet. The sardine, or small fish, if not 

 too large, or over six inches in length, is put on whole, otherwise it is cut 

 diagonally, making two baits. The salmon seizes the bait and hook, and 

 is pulled in alongside the boat without ceremony, where it is either yanked 

 in or gaffed. Fully half of the salmon hooked are lost by the careless 



