THE GAME FISHES OP THE WOELD 



taking the bait, or anything, so readily, that it was murder ; 

 yet so far as sport was concerned, one might as well try to go 

 a-fishing with Charon on the Styx ; it was hot beyond expres- 

 sion, boiling, steaming, and I had to timible overboard every little 

 while to cool off. One has to be an enthusiast to find enjoyment 

 mider such conditions. In Southern California I have seen big 

 game fishes pile into a little inlet at San Mcolas Island — a melan- 

 choly spot, ninety miles from Avalon — ^pUe in such nuinbers 

 that they took Une, sinkers, anything. But it was eternally 

 blowing here ; the air was filled with sand and spume, and the 

 very winds conspired to drive one out. In a word, fishing, anghng, 

 without some of the comforts, is a sad travesty. One ought to 

 have good weather, smooth waters to play big game, and clear 

 waters for smaller fry, that one may enter into the full enjoyment 

 of the sport. 



This is what has made the waters of Santa CataUna famous, 

 not to speak of Bermuda. The conditions at the former are ideal ; 

 eighteen miles at sea, and twenty miles of practical lee. The 

 same may be true of San Clemente, twenty miles still further 

 out, in September, and at Monterey, from 6 until 11 a.m., when 

 it begins to blow, and the scene changes. 



The average angler does not see the best fishing of Florida, 

 as it is on in the summer. He fishes for tarpon in the early 

 spring, amber-jack and others ; but it is in summer, when the 

 sun is overhead, and long, hot days give a dead calm for weeks at 

 a time that the sport is at its best, yet often seething, sizzling. 

 I have fished the Florida keys every month in the year, and a 

 number of summers, and they are far more comfortable than 

 the_2mainland regions, the heat being tempered by the winds, 

 the mosquitoes not so evident. In fact, the climate of Key West 

 and the lower reef is of the best. 



In California the sea-fishing is in summer, or from March 

 imtil December, and the angler rarely finds a day too hot for 

 comfort on the water. In midsummer in California the nights 

 are often too cool to go out on the water with comfort, this 

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