PACIFIC COAST FISHES. 



355 



An interesting account of tlie mode employed in its capture by the 

 Indians of Vancouver's Island, is given by J. K. Lord in his 

 " Naturalist in Vancouver's Island and British Columbia." 



GADID^, 



ToMCOD. — Microgadus proximus, — Gill. 



This nice, delicate little fish for the table, even to those of 

 epicurean tastes, is very plentiful in bays, and in some of the 

 creeks, and affords much amusement, if not great sport for anglers. 

 It frequents near the bottom for its food, and is readily caught 

 with a rather stout hand line and a tolerably heavy sinker and 

 small hooks, say two or three, and No 4 or 5 in sizes, fastened on 

 near the sinker about nine inches apart from each other. The line 

 should be about sixty to eighty feet in length, to be thrown out 

 from the wharf as far as it will go. The best baits are mussels or 

 sand worms, to be purchased near the fishing grounds, and which 

 are obtained from the piles under the wharves, or in the swamp 

 sands near the shores of some parts of the bay. Or this much 

 sought after inhabitant of Pacific waters and its bays and inlets, 

 may be angled for successfully with a common rod of a medium 

 length, furnished with a small sized line and common multiplying 

 reel, with a much lighter sinker than the one recommended for 

 hand line fishing. This can be thrown out as far as convenience 

 will admit of, and to any one used to manipulating skillfully a rod, 

 reel and line, is a mode much preferable to the hand line process, 

 and much pleasanter, because it enables you to sit at ease on the 

 wharf without having to get up every time a fish is hooked and 

 cast out again, as with the hand line, and you can wind the fish 

 quickly up by means of your reel while in a sitting posture. 



The Tomcods run in the largest schools when the tide water 

 is flowing only moderately fast and rather muddy, but not_toc 

 much so. They bite best in those parts of the water on which the 

 sun is shining. There is the same remarkable difference in this 

 fish's biting as in others. Generally the catch is good, but there 

 are a few days that ate nearly or entirely blank. They feed 

 against the running tide, both on the ebb and flow. Their roe, 

 both hard and soft, is considered a great delicacy with some 

 persons. They spawn in early spring. 



