THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



"with wax and sheep-suet, mixed with bean or wheat flour. If 

 you wish to force a fish to bite try the following, by Monsieur 

 Charras, Apothecary Eoyal to the French king, Louis XIV : 



Equal parts of Man's Fat, Cat's Fat, powdered Mummy, cum- 

 min-seed, oil of Anise and Spike, two grains of Civet, and Camphire. 

 Anoint the last six inches of the line with an ointment made of 

 these ingredients audit will be found irresistible : a Tear of Gum 

 Ivy is recommended, with half an ounce of Assafoetida. This 

 is said to be very fetching for gudgeons. Any of these baits 

 would not only arrest the attention of a muUet, but could be 

 depended on to arrest the attention of Banquo's ghost. 



The various towns of California, as Santa Monica, Eedondo, 

 Long Beach, STewport, Huntington Beach, l^aples, Ocean Park, 

 Venice and others have extraordinary piers running out into the 

 sea beyond the breakers. S'o conmierce is expected, ships come 

 not nor do they go, except at Eedondo ; in fact, the more 

 elaborate the dock, the more debarred is it, apparently, from the 

 possibility of a ship landing there, though at one pier there is a 

 replica of the ship which bore Cabrillo, the discoverer, to these 

 waters. But this is bogus, being a restaurant and resting on 

 logs, hke the ship ' S'onesuch ' of fable — ' with-three decks and 

 no bottom.' 



The explanation of these piers, with no hope or expectation 

 or wish for commerce, is that they are fishing or angling piers, 

 virtual vUlages in some instances of shops, built out into the 

 ocean. On some when the fish are running you may see two or 

 more hundred men, women and children, aU fishing with long 

 bamboo rods for surf-fish, roncador, sea-trout, jack-smelt, 

 mackerel, croakers, and hoping for yeUowtail, sea-bass and big 

 game which frequently come. ISo better evidence that there 

 is a love of angling among all peoples can be seen than in this 

 angling contingent, some of whom sleep on the piers Saturday 

 night, or hard by, to secure a position Sunday when aU the 

 piers are crowded. It is free fishing, and on each pier is a shop 

 where one can rent or purchase rod, reel and line and all kinds 

 i68 



