THE YELLOWTAIL OF CALIFOENIA 



tected by the lofty cliffs or mountains. The water is a blue of 

 ittdescribable beauty and intensity, and filled "with radiant jelly 

 fishes and other forms, and affording vistas into the haUs and 

 parterres formed by the kelpian forests which, olive-hued, are 

 veritable palaces of the sea and through which the blue of the 

 ocean forms a splendid picture. 



WMle passing the lofty cliffs which reach away up into deep 

 canons, we may glance at the convenient equipment of the anglers. 

 If he is angling with 3-6 or very Ught tackle he wears a belt with a 

 leather socket in which he places the butt of the rod when he is. 

 playing the fish, thus obtaining a fulcrum ; or he may use a. 

 flat-face rubber cap that fits on to the silver tip of the butt, and 

 which can be pressed against the body without trouble. If he 

 is using a heavier rod there is attached to his seat, between his 

 legs, a larger socket for the butt. This is really intended for 

 tuna, swordfish and black sea bass — a necessary fulcrum ; but 

 it can be used for a large yellowtail. 



When the strike comes, the engineer, gaffer and steersman, 

 who sits directly behind the angler (who are seated in comfort- 

 able chairs facing the stern), stops the boat and allows the angler 

 to play the fish to a finish, and generally in twenty minutes it is 

 brought to the gaff. If the fishes are extremely plentiful the 

 launch is stopped altogether and allowed to drift, while the 

 boatman tosses over sardines or anchovies and keeps the yellow- 

 tails about the boat, the angler casting for them with a short 

 Une. Nearly all the yellowtail fishing is between Avalon bay and 

 Church Eock, within five or six miles, or about a large sea-hon 

 rookery. The fleet of twenty or thirty launches reaches the 

 ground in an hour or less ; is always inshore near the rocks, and 

 generally, when the conditions are at their best, obtain between 

 eight and twelve yellowtaUs, averaging twenty-five pounds — 

 a satisfying bag. 



While the yeUowtafl wiU come within a few feet of the boat, 

 and take a bait, and at times wiU take any lure, and can be 

 caught by the merest tyro, he is again a very CagUostro of the 



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