The California Sheepshead 181 
ging three feet of what appeared to be a cod-line, 
the hook plainly visible against its white jaw. 
At such localities the angler tarries to try con- 
clusions with this doughty fish. The boat is 
anchored within the kelp, one of the leaves being 
hauled aboard as an anchor. The rods are taken 
out, put together, and the question of bait remains 
to be decided. When the fish is in the biting 
humor, sardines are readily taken, but when it is 
coy, crayfish, the long-whipped crustacean, which 
takes the place of the lobster in California and 
the tropics, is selected. But the sheepshead is 
no clumsy game, to be caught even on selected 
bait. At times it scorns anything; but it hap- 
pens that to-day the fish is in the biting humor, 
and no sooner has the bait reached the bottom 
in twenty feet of water than it is taken. A good 
honest strike this. No nibbler to peck at the 
bait and examine it, like a customhouse officer, 
for hidden fish-hooks, but a strong, steady jerk to 
which you respond with as heavy a hand as the 
exigencies of the situation and the hard jaw of 
the fish require. There is no doubt as to the 
result; the fish is hooked, the water hisses before 
the line, the reel sings merrily, and the fight is 
on, with a royal foeman that tugs, rushes, plunges, 
