The California Sheepshead 183 
this manner on the west side of Santa Catalina 
and at San Clemente, I have known these fishes 
to bite so rapidly that they took the bait as soon 
as it reached the bottom. It would have been 
a piscatorial bonanza for a professional fisherman, 
as he could literally have filled his boat with 
sheepshead of the largest size. So much for 
taking this fish with a light rod where it has a 
fighting chance. If the fisherman really enjoys 
hand-line fishing, it can be had all alongshore. 
The sheepshead is a valuable food-fish in 
California, many thousand pounds being dried or 
salted annually ; but for domestic consumption it 
would be classed as a “chowder ” fish, and is 
excellent for the purpose. While its praises 
probably have never been sung before, I com- 
mend it to the angler, confident that when taken 
with a fairly light bending rod and a number 
fifteen or eighteen cuttyhunk line it will repay 
the expert in the gentle art of angling. 
With the sheepshead, living in its highway, is 
another gamy fish, the whitefish, Caulolatilus 
princeps (Jenyns), which attains a maximum 
weight of twenty pounds, that has afforded me 
such sport that I may refer to it. Small or 
medium-sized specimens may be caught almost 
