THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



excepting that of leaping, and twice its strength. But once did 

 I have the game in such a location. This was at San Clemente, 

 where there is a wide ledge of shallow water between Mosquito 

 Canon and the Hook at the east end. There is, perhaps, two 

 acres of water here of a depth of ten or fifteen feet. One morning 

 I discovered a big school of yeUowtails weU inshore. I made a 

 cast into the school, hooked a big one, and enjoyed its splendid 

 play on the surface for a half hour. At one time it had nearly 

 five hundred feet of line out in a splendid rush directly on the 

 surface. Then I stood up on the stern deck and having the fish 

 on a six-ounce rod, bade my boatman to go after it at fuU speed, 

 while I reeled. 



So we played it, rushing this and that way. The moment I 

 got near it the fine creature would turn and dash up the coast 

 to the north, taking nearly all my six hundred feet by the time 

 we turned. Then we went after it at racing speed, shouting with 

 laughter and excitement, cheered on by the spectators in several 

 boats, and all in water as clear and smooth as a lake. I nearly 

 had the fish before it discovered the game I was playing, then it 

 made a sudden rush past us and seaward, reached the edge of 

 blue water, and like a meteor, dashed down the side of the 

 submerged mountaia into the depths from which I was forced 

 to ' pump ' it up — a startling contrast to the joy and excitement 

 of the few moments before. 



At times when the yeUowtadl wiU not bite it can be taken by 

 lowering the bait to the bottom, and tE the angler wiU take a car 

 filled with live sardines and tow it, using live bait, he may always 

 catch them. At least I have never known them to resist this 

 lure, though I am prepared to believe, so clever is the fish, 

 that such an occasion might arise. It is said that sea fishes 

 are not intelligent, but I recaU at least two exceptions : the 

 gray snapper of Florida, and the yeUowtail or amber fish of 

 Santa CataUna; the finest trace cannot deceive them. As a 

 rule, the yeUowtail will bite and it constitutes the largest and 

 surest catch in this region of great game fishes. Some of the 

 i6o 



