PACIFIC COAST FISHES. 361 



San Francisco Bay, with a cane, bamboo, or other rod from fit- 

 teen to eighteen feet in length, made either with or without joints, 

 and a light but strong line, either fastened to the top of the pole, 

 or connected with a good large four-fold multiplying reel, at the 

 end of which line there is rather a heavy lead or sinker, above 

 which are tied three or four small hooks about a foot apart, baited 

 -V'ith pieces of worms, found among the mussels which attach 

 .4iemselves to the piles of a wharf or bridge. The smelts come up 

 and return with each tide to cast their spawn or melt on those 

 shores and flats of the bay which are- either sandy or muddy. In 

 the full season, which is in April, they come up from the ocean 

 through the Golden Gate in enormous quantities, and bite gen- 

 erally so ravenously at the bait offered them that it often happens 

 that the angler hooks and lands three, or even four of them at one 

 time, and when three or four of them weigh each over half or three- 

 quarters of a pound, the angler has his hands full to secure them 

 all on terra firma. In the height of the " take," when there are 

 a hundred rods plying at once, the scene is a very lively and inter- 

 esting one. They are taken about three feet below the surface, 

 and the bait is kept actively in motion. A float may be used, or 

 not, at pleasure. 



It must always be remembered that this species has no relation 

 whatever with true Smelts of Europe and the Atlantic coast. It is 

 nearly allied to the Silver-side of the East. The true smelts belong 

 to the family Microstomidas, very near the Salmonidse, and there 

 are several species on the Pacific coast. 



SALMONID^. 



Of the Salmon of the Pacific coast, Doctor Suckley has given in 

 his monograph a list of no less than twenty-two anadromous spe- 

 cies — this is, species running up from the salt water to spawn • 

 the young remaining there for a greater or less time, then return- 

 ing to the sea, in which they abide, excej.t during the period of re- 

 production. Of these twenty-two, however, six feed freely in 

 fresh water, and can hardly be called marine species. The remain 

 ing sixteen are enumerated as follows : 



Salmo scouleri. Hook-nosed salmon ; fall salmon. 



