Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-05-28
ARREST PLEASES
MANY SPORTSMEN
ACTION GIVES ANGLERS GREAT
SATISFACTION
SAY SET NETS CONSTITUTE DIS
TlNcT MENACE
White Sea Bass Fishing Ruined by
Wolators of State seInIng Laws
Claim Boatmen of
Catalina
By EDWIN F. HEDDERLy

Nothing that has happened In several
years has given the Catalina anglers
so much real satisfaction as Deputy
Game Warden Brewster's arrest of the
crew of the fishing launch Lucy for
the state seining law. Com
plant has been frequent nearly every
boat that has gone up to the Isthmus
from Avalon reporting trouble with the
seines that have been. set off the MAIN
land around Ship rock and or john
sons. Some of the boatmen have gone
so far as to assert that these set nets
constitute distinct menace to navi-
cation, being apt to foul the propeller
of a launch, so that she becomes UNI
manageable, and is apt to go onto the
reef. Most of the boatmen and sports
men rest their case on an entirely DIFF
erent ground. The running of the white
sea bass fishing is their chief cause of
complaint.
OF all the myriad kinds Of fish that
throng Catalina's teeming waters there
is none that quite takes the place of
the white sea bass in the estimation of
those who know him. OF large size, and
beautiful both in coloring and form, as
we'll as the best of the big fish for
table use. the white bass puts up a
particularly sporting fight upon light
depths, as does the big yellowtail or
the two kinds of tuna, but wages a
brilliant surface battle featured by
long runs, during which the fish fire.
quently rises after the style of hooped
salmon, sometimes even breaking at
the surface, often being plainly visible.
AS big fish go, the white bass is not
particularly destructive to tackle or
hard to land. but he is a pleasing varie-
80 -AII an To 4
and the other deep sounding fishes.
Perhaps the chief difficulty is the bass
love of kelp and reefs, about which
he generally is taken. The experts cap
ture him on nine-thread line and nine
ounce rod, and in clear water there is
no reason why with patient. careful
handling q bass of goodly proportions
could not be led to gaff even upon the
frail three-six gear of the thirty-third
degree anglers.
Resort to illegal Methods
Such is a brief sketch of the splendid
game fish that the professionals have
been resorting to illegal methods to
drive away from Catalina by setting
nets in chain and moored, contrary to
law. Is 1t to be wondered that lively
appreciation has greeted Mr. Brew
ster's efforts to end the illegal deple-
About May the white sea bass APP
pear above the isthmus at the north
ern extremity of Catalina, and steadily
work down to the southerly end Of the
island, presumably to spawn there In
some force, the unspent fish striking
across the channel to Clemente.. The
cause of this migration is theory; the
migration, however. is fact estab-
lished to the satisfaction of every man
d.. Cn4N Itx1n In
Off the northeastern face of the island
lies a jagged pinnacle of rock called,
from its fancied resemblance to ship.
Ship rock. Between 1t and the main
land, half a mile away, extends a long
reef severed with kelp, which at high
water is down so that it Is hard to To-
cate the rocks by 1T. Over this reef,
particularly at its west end, is the
white sea bass country par excellence.
Here the market fishermen for weeks
had been setting their nets, anchoring
and buoying them, and tieing one to
the other in chain extending from the
mainland out to Ship rock and inter-
cepting the stream Of white sea bass
that at this season flows down the shore
of the island, giving good sport all the
way. 1t is not the net catch that has
done the mischief, but rather the shunt-
ing off into the sea Of the white sea
bass schools, which appear to have
skirted the island completely, only
touching In at Silver canyon where one
of the boatmen got fifteen one day last
week.
Yields Good Sport
This generally is conceded to be the
last station on the white sea bass, itin-
erary before crossing the channel to
Clemente, hence the lamentations OF
the fishermen who visit Avalon. The
fish may yet yield some sport during
this and next month, but the best OF
the season necessarily is gone.
Mr.. Brewster, who made the arrest
and succeeded In getting 5000 fine as
sessed, is an amateur sportsman of high
class, president and treasurer of the
Catalina Light Tackle club, and owner
of the fastest launch in Avalon bay.
the Nevada. Thus he is exactly fitted
to serve as deputy game warden, which
he has undertaken as a part OF the duty
he feels he owes to the sport. He re-
sides at Avalon, and therefore Is al
ways upon the scene of action.
Game Warden Morgan and others
have been looking into the situation at
Catalina also, and a number, OF hsh
traps have been broken up. The 1nten-
ton is to vigorously prosecute all Of
tenders against the fish law henceforth,
and to protect the islands angling re-
sources to the legal limit.
d