190 SPINY-FINNED FISHES 



of Striped Bass. At that time the average weight for a 

 whole year was 11 pounds and the average price was ten 

 cents per pound. Fish weighing as high as 49 pounds have 

 been taken, and there are reasons for the behef that eventu- 

 ally the fish of California will attain as great weight as 

 those of the Atlantic and the Gulf. 



The San Francisco markets now sell annually about 

 one and one-half million pounds of Striped Bass. This fish 

 has taken its place among anglers as one of the game fishes 

 of the California coast, and affords fine sport. In 1897 the 

 California markets handled 2,949,642 pounds, worth $225,- 

 527. In 1897 the catch for the whole United States amounted 

 to 5,996,882 pounds, worth $440,222, but in 1904 the total 

 catch of "Striped Bass" and "Rock Fish" for the whole 

 United States (U. S. Census, 1909) was only 3,466,871 pounds, 

 worth $155,525. 



The last word of the United States Fish Commissioner 

 regarding this fish is as follows: "The Striped Bass of the 

 Pacific coast has attained extraordinary abundance, and is 

 distributing itself naturally along the coast, north and south 

 of the waters in which it was originally planted." 



THE PERCH AND PIKE-PERCH FAMILY 



Per'ci-dae 



The festive little Yellow Perch'^ is, to the small angler, 

 the next step upward from the sunfish — a sort of half-way 

 fish on the road to the black bass and tarpon. And there is 

 many a worse thing in the fishing line than a good string 



J Per'r.a Jla-ves'cen.i. See illustration on page 181. 



