THE GAME PISHES OF THE WOELD 



remarks calculated to arouse one's dormant energies, and I threw 

 aU my strength into the contest and believe I did gain a few feet. 

 But I lost them very quickly, and we were still moving out to 

 sea, and the boatman was holding back with both oars, for we 

 were in a staunch heavy rowboat. 



My friends now began to question my physical and mental 

 powers and qualiflcations for landing cmy kind of game, and I 

 was rapidly arriving at the conclusion that I had a real 

 monster that no one could land. When fuUy convinced that this 

 was the case, I handed the rod to one of my companions — ^an old 

 tuna angler — and sat back to enjoy his discomfort. He tugged 

 and haided, looked surprised, then worried, while I made choice 

 and timely criticisms. But the fish kept on and on, apparently 

 unmoved, and at last, after a half hour's struggle, either my friend 

 or the big bass broke the Une. I doubt if either of us had lifted 

 him ten feet. He moved steadily on and on down the side of the 

 big mountain of Santa Cataltna, and when the line severed he had 

 garnered nearly six hundred feet. 



The black sea bass attains a weight of one thousand pounds in 

 the Gulf of California, but this fisk, which we played for an hour, 

 must have weighed — ^what it weighed I leave to the reader's 

 imagination. The black sea bass comes in from outer banks or 

 deeps in May or June to spawn, and is met with in schools at 

 times. Its favourite grounds are beds of long kelp that 

 rises up to the surface in water fifty or one hundred feet and 

 surrounds the islands of California and Mexico and some of the 

 mainland shores. Where it actually spawns, or where the young 

 go, I have never determined, nor have I seen a young fish or heard 

 of any one who has seen one smaller than three or four pounds. 

 Where the very young go or stay is a mystery not confined alone 

 to the progeny of the black sea bass, but to most of the big game 

 fishes here. They come to spawn ; the females are filled with 

 eggs ; they return every year, but the yoimg elude observation 

 in an extraordinary manner. 



The big bass is a most graceful fish in the water and very social. 

 130 



