The herald., 1894-10-21
CATCHING JEWISH.
ANGLING FOR MAXINE MONSTERS IN
SAN DIEGO BAY.

STtr biE~40 - w.
Tho Process Is Of tho Progressive Nind.
The Part Toothoic,ss Play Tho Eun with
Hce-Mcsabcrs CT tho Dass Family That
/ Weigh Hundreds of Pounds.
Don't talk to man from southern
California about black bass fishing, or
be will make your best bass story fee
bic, pitifui thing. lie will tell you OF
black bass that could swallow the big
gest days catch you ever made and
take in your creel for dessert without
as much as gulping. Voice doubt. and
the man from San Diego will pull from
his fishing traps something that looks
like one f1ulSed ships anchor. That is
what he fishes with for the strange,
raonstrous black bass in the bays and
about the islands Of the southern Cali
foruia coast. They don t call them black
bass down there, though the fish conn
missioners say they are, aud the natu-
ralists have identified them by fins and
bones and form with the gamy two and
three Founders that make men tickle
even to trout
The men who catch these fish that
sometimes weigh /, 600 pounds call them
jewfish---a corruption Of june6sh. The
last is translation of one Of their Mex
ican names. Probably they were called
junefsh from the fact that they are
plentiful along the shores in the late
spring aud early summer. No matter
how he got his name, the jewish is
wonder. He looks like bass fisherman's
nightmare when they get him out of
the water Every fin and mark is there,
magnifed out of all proportion. His
scales are as big as half dollars. his
mouth is gaping chasm, and the spikes
of his dorsal fin are bigger than tenpen-
ny nails.
Tho process Of catching q Jewish is a
progressive and interesting one. The
fishers begin at the beginning. With
bent pins or dip nets they look for min
nows or sardelles. The quarry secured,
it promptly becomes bait, and the con-
course is treated to smell fishing Then
comes the s1nelt's turn in the success
sion. He is impaled, and the fisherman,
with heavier rod and larger hook,
goes to the other side of the wharf for
halibut or sea bass.
When the bait, dead or alive, is ready,
| the stoutest armed man on the wharf
picks up the line. He swings the two
or three pounds Of bait around his head
like an Indian does tho bolas and hurls
! it seaward. Tho great line, as thick rs
lead pencil, coils out after the hook,
and that is nearly all until the fish
comes along.
Incidentally toothpicks play quite a
part in the fishing. Each fisherman
takes a handful with him when he leaves
the breakfast table. They stick one in
crack at the top Of pile and loosely
loop the limo around it. The shore part
Of the line is coiled ON the wharf, and
the end is fast to an empty powder keg
or some such thing that will float we'll.
On the toothpiclk is stuck bit Of white
rag, and as half dozen or dozen lines
are used at once there is string of
these little signal flags all along the
dock The fisherman has nothing more
to do for awhile than to watch the flags.
When one goes down, it means that
something has taken the bait. After
gathering in the barracuda heads or
the impaled halibut the jewish starts
away like the locomotive on fast ex-
press. Down goes the signal flag.
Everybody around runs for the line.
They know they can't hold the fish, but
the resistance makes it harder for him
and helps them to tire him out-the ul-
innate object. The great fish does not
struggle at first, but moves steadily sea-
ward, pulling the line through the
mems hands Occasionally, when the
fish weighs less than 200 pounds, they
can tire him out without paying out all
of the line, but usually it all goes, and
presently the struggle is transferred to
the water. The empty powder keg
bounces over the water most erratical-
ly, the men chase it in boat, and
| when they catch it hold on. Then the
real fun Of jewfishing begins. 1t is just
| sport for fish of any size to tow q
whitehall around the bay, and tits prst-
ty rough sailing in his wake AS soon
as he realizes that there is fight on the
! jewish seems to forget that ho is q staid
bottom fish. All the steam Of his black
bass ancestors gets riley, and he plunges
and turns, twists and strikes Some
where down in the cavern Of his gullet
he has an arrangements OF bone hlzo a
couple of millstones, and when he dis
covers he cannot spit out the hook he
tries to swallow it and grind the line
apart, SO the slack has to bo carefully
attended tc. There are some tremendous
fish in San Diego bay, and though the
hooks are made of hand forged tool steel
they have snapped many of them.
If everything goes well, if the hook
| holds and tho fish does not grind the
line, if he steers away from submerged
buoy chains and decks, the fight must
end in tho death Of the fish. Sometimes
! he tows the boat for three hours before
his strength is gone and he is hauled
to tho surface. The death struggle is
worst of all The fish is dragged to tho
top and lies there, apparently all but
dead. Then they drive harpoon into
! him, and the sting of tho steel starts all
his lifo again. Tho harpoon line holds
him near tho surface, and hc makes a
great race for q little while, but, Of
course, it cannot last. At the end tho
fish is towed back to the dock, and there
the floating population Of San Diego is
assembled. Everybody gets hold Of a
ropo and hoists tho giant fish upon tho
dock, and there the tired monster houn-
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