184 Big Game Fishes 
anywhere alongshore, away from sandy beaches, 
and at rocky points, but the largest I have found 
after fishing at nearly all the islands were at the 
government island of San Clemente, about fifty 
miles from San Pedro, or opposite San Juan 
Capistrano. During a yachting trip around this 
island we anchored on the lee or east side where 
there was a rapid current, and in this I amused 
myself one morning casting for yellowtails. In- 
stead of the latter, quantities of whitefish rose 
and began to follow the bait. At a distance they 
resembled and acted not unlike pollock, and 
taking a ten-ounce split bamboo rod, and using 
crayfish (spiny lobster) bait, I was soon partici- 
pating in sport well worthy the name. The swift 
current carried the bait astern, and as it drifted 
twenty-five or thirty feet there was a struggle for 
it by scores of whitefish of large size, their at- 
tractive drab colors, with dashes of blue and 
yellow, flashing in the sunlight as they played 
upon the surface. When hooked they rushed 
away with force and vigor that tested the light 
tackle to its utmost, and as the sport grew fast 
and furious, and several anglers joined, the snap- 
ping of the delicate lines began. Some. of the 
largest fish made a determined battle, and an old 
