234 
BULLETIN OF THE UjNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
a few other phaces on the coast, where they soinetiines remain for months, and pursue their feeding 
as other lish do, and where they are readily caught with fresh-tish bait. I have latelj^ had the great 
pleasure of taking a few score, and for the henelit of those who, like myself, have been in the habit of 
taking these noble lish with the lly, I will give the result of my experience. 
When the salmon strike in about the bay, and generally near the shore, which occurs here 
about the 10th of .June, they do so in the xmrsnit of squid, sardines, anchovies, smelts, and other small 
fish, and their presence is first indicated to the fishermen by the occasional disturbance of the surface 
water by the small fish in their efforts to escape. This is a signal for the Italians, Portuguese, and 
other market fishermen to go out for them, which they do in both sail and row boats. 'These men all 
fish for the market and waste no time in sentiment. They are eipiipped with stout cotton lines 
sufficiently strong to jnill in salmon hand over hand. A stout sea hook is used, with a sinker weighing 
half a pound. The lino is aliout 200 feet in lengtb, the sinker is attached a short distance above the 
hook, and the line is paid out about 100 feet fivm the boat, and in the slow sailing or rowing, 
which is about the same speed as followed in trolling for trout, the bait sinks down 20-odd feet. The 
sardine or small fish, if not too large, or over 6 inches in length, is put on whole, otherwise it is cut 
diagonally, making two baits. 
The salmon seizes the bait and hook and is imlled in alongside the boat without ceremony, 
where it is either yanked in or gaffed. Fully half of the salmon hooked are lost by the careless 
manner of handling, and about two baits are strijiped to a salmon hooked. About once in twenty or 
thirty times two salmon are brought in at one time. I have reason to believe that at times when 
salmon first-come in, and in schools, that the fishermen catch doulilets often in succession. 
iMy first experience was in going out with two fishermen in their boat and in witnessing their 
method. The boat I was in secured three salmon bj^ the hand lines; the other boats did better, some 
taking .as high as eight or ten; about a hundred salmon were taken by the fifteen boats out that 
morning. 
I could find no record of taking the salmon with rod excepting that of niy friend Mr. A. L. Tubbs, 
of S.an Francisco, from whose information I was induced to look up the fishing. His rod fishing 
is the only one I have heard of as applied to the salmon in salt water, and I hai'e seen no other 
during nij^ fishing except that of Mr. Simpkins, of Boston, who accompanied me on one of my fishings 
and who succeeded in catching one of the largest salmon I have ever seen caught here, weighing 32 
pounds. I eqiiipiied myself in San Francisco with the best I could get — two cheap bamboo trolling sea- 
bass rods of 14 ounces and 9 feet in length. My additions were light sea-bass linen lines No. 18, 600 
feet long, and No. 4-0 Kirby hooks. The hooks I had soldered to a short link of strong brass wire, to 
which were attached three more additional brass-wire links, with swivels between, adding to the wire 
above the shank of the hook a small brass-wire projection without barb, to hold the bait-fish head 
in position, long half-pound lead sinkers with holes in each enil. These, with a multiplying reel, 
completed my outfit. 
The game commences when the s.almou is brought tow.ard the surface. Then the salmon will 
frequently strike off on the surface in a straight line several hundred feet. In two instances 1 have 
trembled for my line, being compelled, with all the strain I dared to put on, to allow the fish to t.ake 
out within 50 or 100 feet of all I had, although the boat was being 2 iropelled as rapidly as two men 
■could row toward the fish. But it has been rarely that I have jiaid out over 400 feet. 
Not so often as in fresh water does the salmon leaj) out of water, and seldom more than two or 
three times. 
My-daily catch has averaged nearly eight fish and given most exciting sport. The careful weight 
of 69 salmon caught 1 find to be 1,133 2 >ounds, or about 16 pounds each. The smallest was a grilse of 
5 pounds and the largest of 30 i)ounds. 
All my catches have been in the early morning, starting out at 4 o’clock and getting back to the 
Hotel Del Monte in each instance but one for lunch. The excei^tion was an all-day fishing, when I 
secured 18 salmon, weighing 286 i)ounds. 
As with trout, I have found the morning best, and after 10 o'clock the fishing falls off. Two or 
3 miles of rowing has Iteen required to reach the fishing-ground from Jlonterey pier, and the fishing- 
ground I have found so far to extend over an area of about 2 miles long by 1 mile wide, although I 
have no doubt that the salmon could have been found out 2 or 3 miles beyond that limit. I have caught, 
in addition to the salmon brought in, half a dozen rockfish, called l)luefish by the fishermen, but not 
blnefish as known East, weighing about 5 iiounds each; also two codfish of 5 or 6 iiounds, and two 
flounders of 5 and 8 i)Ounds. In a dead calm the fishing about ceases, as with trout in trolling; but 
