THE GAME FISHES OF THE WORLD 



for various reasons, while the next tuna, the following day, may 

 be a tiger and a devastator of tackle. This is true of all fishes and 

 the experience of all seasoned anglers. It is this very uncertainty 

 that makes angling what it isj and I hold that to see a school of 

 white sea bass of the largest size lying in the great kelp beds is 

 worth whQe, even if they will not bite. 



This fish has been seen as far north as Vancouver, but this is 

 rare. At Santa Cruz it abounds and is taken in nets. The Bay 

 of Monterey is a favourite feeding ground ; but the locality best 

 adapted for the angler is Santa CataUna, where the Tuna Club 

 displays some fine specimens, and collections of photographs of 

 the catches of fifteen or more years. 



The fishes come in large schools in April or May, depending 

 upon the season. Their arrival is the occasion of a movement 

 of anglers from many places to Avalon, anglers leaving orders 

 with the Tuna Club to telegraph them on the arrival of the fish. 

 The tackle is the nine-ounce rod of the Club, a number nine hne, 

 piano wire trace or leader, and a number 10/° hook, aUof which 

 can be obtained at the tackle shops of Avalon. The bait is a 

 flying fish eighteen inches long, the bonne iouche of the white sea 



I was drifting over the kelp beds of Avalon one day with Dr. 

 David Starr Jordan, President of Stanford University, and the 

 authority on the fishes of America, when suddenly we passed over 

 a school of big bass. We were passengers on a glass-bottom boat, 

 which some anglers affect, that they may see the fish, the strike, 

 and all that is going on. We were looking down through the 

 glass window, and as it magnified slightly, it appeared as if we 

 could almost touch the bass. They were about four feet in 

 length, forty or fifty pounders, floating or poising in the inter- 

 stices of the big vine — splendid and impressive pictures of dignity 

 and power. 



They paid no attention to the boat, sociability being a char- 

 acteristic. We observed them a while and passed on ; but I stored 

 up the memory of the place and found it several days later. 

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