forest and stream 
1-Dr. H. K. Macomber, Pa.ad. ™ o* TAL ' NA ISL * ND ™A CLUB AND FAMOUS CATCHES. 
L " - — -C. F. Ha,da, N „ Vor„ .„ d Fa.ad.aa. 
“ “ m " y wh ° - —-- — - - 
The Fighting Yellow Tail of the Pacific Coast 
A Story TM Wi.l S.„d Thrill. Thr.u.h ,h. b . w „... __ ,. S-lr 
By Charles F. Holder. 
Alfred. word comes of the death of 
.ter HT;’oL b e%o7 s oS fl^t Sstr^uZir °v u, ¥<?&.s 
At the time of his death Dr. Holder was enaaaedilthrt ^ pcrwd °f its Publication, 
pafcr on big game fishing. IVc believe 9 fhat spiral P * e / a . r , atton ,°f a s <f rte s °f articles for this 
so they will be published in ' succeedhig V issues t -Ed eral ° f W beeH com P^ted, and if 
gaBESSM 
3 
IHE Southern California sea¬ 
angling season is on, and men 
with long leather and canvas 
objects, suggestive of rods, are 
wending their way to Uncle 
Sam s island, San Clemente, 
and Santa Catalina, off Los 
Angeles County. This region 
and the Santa Catalina group, made up of four 
or five islands, has become world famous for 
the game fish of large size. The islands are the 
summits of off-shore Sierras which rise from 
depths of a mile or so in the waters of the 
Black Current, the Kuro Shiwo, of Japan. For 
sixty or one hundred feet below the surface 
there is a fringe of kelp or sea-weed, often one 
hundred or more feet in length; a huge vine 
with colossal leaves which lies on the surface at 
ebb tide, and at the flood, reach away, swaying 
and fluttering in the current. 
In some places the kelp has the appearance of 
a vast olive- and golden-green forest. Like the 
trees of the land, these forests of the sea have 
their inhabitants. The white sea bass, rock 
bass, black sea bass and others roam amid them 
poising, and in and out of the alcoves and colon¬ 
nades we shall see what is by all odds, the game 
hsh of the people in Southern California. 
This is the yellowtail; one of the most beau¬ 
tiful of all fishes, and a cousin of the famous 
amber jack that gives joy to anglers at Palm 
Beach and along the shores of lower Florida. 
It is a delicate green or olive above, silver be¬ 
neath; and from eye to tail runs a streak or 
stripe of vivid yellow or gold. The top fin is 
long and beautiful, and the fins are dashed 
with yellow. Its eye is clear, large and scintil- 
la nt; the mouth large, also the head. The aver¬ 
age yellowtail of the Tuna Club is twenty-five 
pounds in weight, but it runs up to sixty pounds 
that being the Club record. This fish was taken 
at San Clemente Island by Mr. W. H. Simpson 
of England, and ultimately found a resting place 
in the British Museum with a replica of the 
rod, line, leader, etc.; in itself a startling ex¬ 
hibit as the line is a thread for so large a fish. 
A thirty-pound yellowtail is not only a thing 
of beauty but a joy forever, and to see the 
Southern California angler and his equipment 
is to witness the last step or word in true sport 
in its highest phase of exaltation. 
You may take the California amber jack any 
way. . You may let your sardine lie on the bot¬ 
tom in the consciousness that some ultra curi- 
ous Sertola will take it, or you may cast from 
the beach, or launch, or troll. The latter is the 
ordinary method, but to collect the fish about 
you and cast and reel as the launch drifts, has 
its peculiar charm and delight. 
Santa Catalina is twenty miles off-shore and 
has a north and northeast coast line of twenty 
miles, with high, abrupt cliffs which afford a per- 
ect lee part of the day, so that the angler floats 
and trolls from ten to fifty feet from the shore 
in deep blue water,-ideal and enduring condi¬ 
tions which made tuna fishing famous here, now 
partly replaced by the Santa Catalina swordfish 
the premier game fish of the world. In a word’ 
the environment counts. It must be beautiful 
and attractive, and Santa Catalina with a rough 
sea would be Madeira, but as it is, it is Santa 
Catahna itself, and charming, due to the fact 
