THE PACIFIC COAST S A L M O J!f 



August, feeding on the vast schools of anchovies, where I have 

 angled for them. 



At Monterey there is a salmon cannery devoted to the exter- 

 mination of the salmon. July, August and September finds many 

 anglers at Del Monte for the salmon sea-fishing. The angler 

 may go out in a row-boat or in a launch, the tackle being a rod 

 similar to that described for yellowtail, a stiff nine-ounce rod 

 being all that is sufiScient. The bait is a sardine or smelt, and 

 as the fish generally lie thirty or more feet below the surface a 

 detachable sinker is used, which comes off at the strike and per- 

 mits the angler to fish at ease. At first the boatman will hunt 

 for the salmon, using a large hand-line and a heavy sinker, and 

 once the school is located by a catch, the angler may begin fish- 

 ing with his rod, which consists of trolling with the lure twenty 

 or more feet down, though at times the salmon are at or near the 

 surface. 



The country in the vicinity of the bay of Monterey is of great 

 interest. On the north are the redwood forests and some of the 

 largest of the Sempervirens, this being the southern limit. Here 

 are the towns of Santa Cruz, Capitola, with their little rivers, the 

 American, Soquel, and San Andreas, charming trout streams where 

 I have angled for rainbow trout five miles from the mouth, fished 

 for steelheads in the laguna and for salmon offshore ; all in 

 one day or an afternoon and the following morning. On the 

 south side of the bay is the old capital of Caltfornia, Monterey, 

 and the town of Del Monte, and its hotel, which stands in a park 

 of several hundred acres and includes a game preserve, and the 

 upper Eio Carmel — a delightful little river which empties into 

 Carmel Bay near the ancient mission. The mornings are smooth 

 here, despite the fact that the bay is practically an open road- 

 stead. The salmon fieet, augmented by ten or twenty anglers is 

 on the ground by seven o'clock, or earlier, and the sport is on in a 

 short time. 



The salmon is the chinook, and in its best condition, fuU 

 of fight and ranging up to fifty pounds, affords excellent sport. 



267 



