Evening star., 1901-05-25

impossible to try to land the fish without
risk of foundering. The fish one hun
dred feet down and could not be moved in
the Seaway; a Sulking tit had seized it, and
boring down and slowly moving out to sea
was the situation in the second hour.
Apparently it was question of cutting
away ard letting the supposed monster go,
ana the angler was considering this Wht n
ii occurred to him that there was some oil
in the boat. This slowly poured over
board, and soon had Il marked effect. A
great circle of smooth water formed about
them, and thus protected from the sea the
man at the rod piled the reel and brought
the fish to the surface. Here it made a
sudden rush and tOwed the boat Il mile in
shore, where it was gaffed with no little
difficulty near the sea-lion roOkery, the
huge animals roaring protest at the boat
and her occupants This fish-a splendid
specmen-was finally hauled into the broad
beamed boat and rowed to port
How They Are Caught.
Many singular stories are told of the
great bass. Twenty years ago 1t was so
common at Pebble Beach, evidently com
ing in to spawn. that some one conceived
tn" idea of canning it under the title of
boneless cod The huge fish were caught
by hundreds. and a profitable industry
seemed to have been launched, but the
fishermen when they killed the fish threw
over the heads, which SO alarmed the bass
deserted the locality, and even today it is
impossible to catch one there, though half
mile beyond there is a good fishing
ground. The bass. though big and solemn
looking, apparently stupid. is very shy
and by no means easy game for any tyro.
Its bite is entirely unlike that of the leap
ing tuna. The latter rushes at it's prey
like fury, takes it when dartng through
the water. while the black sea bass aD-
proaches it very deliberately. if the bait
is dead; if it is moving it dashes at it, but
it is very rarely caught in this way
The approved method is to drop the bait
half barracuda, weighing five or seven
pcunds-upon the bottom or suspend it
three feet above it. l have observed the
actions of the fish in clear water of about
thirty feet in depth The fish which. per
haps, weighed 9p pounds, approached the
hait very slowly, eyed it askance swim
ming about it dozen times 50, then. as
though satisfied that all well, it stood
upon its head literally. with tail directed
upward. and began to nose or push the
bait about. If the line had now been jerk
ed by the angler the fish would have dart
ed away. 1t presently took the bait in it's
mouth. held 1t a moment, though de-
liberatng and then moved slowly off. My
rod being ten-ounce affair and the line
short. the end can be imagined. The moral
of this is to give the black sea bass. like
the tarpOn, abundance of time and not
attempt to hook it until the line is running
out freely and ten feet at least have gone
Bass have been caught when trolling for
other fish but this is accidental, as, un-
like the tuna, the bass is a bottom fish /
can imagine that by trolling with a mod
erately heavy Sinker. which would keep
the bait-a white fish-ten feet above the
bottom, the fish might be caught.
Place and Season.
The black sea bass season varies but it
may be said to be at the southern Califor-
nian islands-Santa Catalina and San
Clements-frOn March to November the
active season being June, July and August,
at which time the fishes come in to spawn
and they are taken almost daily within one
or two hundred feet of the rocky shore
The fish is an habitue of the kelp-lined
rocks of the southern Californian coast,
and is found even in the Gulf of California
where specimens weighing 600 pounds have
been hauled in with tackle especially adapt
ed to the fish.
That bass weighing $50 pounds can be
brought to gan with rod seems incredi-
BILE. yet cool and skilled angler could
doubtless land G00-pourt1 bass, given
time, fair weather and smooth water That
the Santa Catalina Island record of $50
pounds will be beaten this season is not i'm
probable, as an angler landed bass of 400
pounds last summer with a rod but he
failed to obtain full credit as he was as
sisted by a companion, the catch being
JOINT affair. What constitutes the proper
tackle for such game Is an open question
but the ethics of true sport at Santa Cata-
lima demand rod whose entire length ts
not less than seven feet. This, with
thread-like line, a twenty-one-strand guilty.
hunk. is the tackle with which these giants
OF the tribe have been taken, suggesting
that angling is approaching the plane of a
hlsh art along the Pacific slope.