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the "crater" drops away suddenly, and where the bottom is dimly seen flash wonderful colors with shadowy forms like spectres, and delicate jelly-like creatures in midwater. Such is the fishing ground. Here is the Rialto of the amberfish or yellowtail, the Seriola of the scientist; a splendid fellow who tests the rod at sixty, seventy, or eighty pounds if you will, and garners and harvests lines at thirty or forty, or less.

I have had the pleasure of trying conclusions with many fishes, but I do not recall one born of the sea that has quite the dogged perseverance and vigor of this golden-tinted cavalier of the San Clemente shores, known as the yellowtail, amber-fish, or white salmon, and by other names.

Our yacht was anchored at "Howland's " while we fished the west end, but when we fished the east end-the best, due to the absence of kelp-we anchored the vessel in Smuggler's Cove, on the southwest coast, in the lee of a bluff and off a long beach on which the sea pounded unceasingly.

For fishing, we took on at Avalon three twenty-foot eight-horse-power gasoline launches, hoisting them on board for the trip over. They were fitted with two comfortable seats, one astern and one facing it; one angler fishing to the right, one to the left, always with rod and reel of a peculiar type. Behind these anglers stood the engineer, gaffer, and boatman. The

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QUALIFYING IN THE 3-6 CLUB

(1) Gifford Pinchot Playing a Yellowtail

(2) Pinchot and the Tuna Hound

(3) Chinettis

(4) Pinchot on the Fifth Hour

(5) The Landing

(6) The Party

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Baron, our host, had "Mexican Joe," and the tuna hound for luck. Then there was Al Shade, who had lived on San Clemente nearly as long as Joe, and Clover, three good boatmen.

At six or seven bells we would slip away from the ship, run along by the terraced mountains of the west side, pass the sunken rocks and kelp beds where the great forest was folding and unfolding in the blue water, by the causeway with its strange heads, and-zip, bang, z-e-e-e! and the sport was on; not on one rod, but often on six, with dozens of unhooked twenty- and thirty-pounders dashing about, enraged at being too late for the sport of playing the newcomers. It is a case of "We have met the enemy and we are theirs." Snap goes a line; a rod straightens up; a reel is almost emptied, the z-e-e-e! of another sings a brazen funereal note, and in a few seconds five anglers are retired, one alone playing his fish on the thread of a line.

The reader might surmise that here was very poor fishing or manipulation for five fish to be lost at the first charge, but a glance at the tackle clears the situation. All the anglers are fishing according to the rules of the Tuna Club, which call for a nine-ounce rod and a line of nine threads, having a breaking strength of eighteen pounds, while the anglers of the third boat are fishing with the "Three-Six Club" tackle, with an eye out for the Potter silver cup already de

scribed. When it is remembered that even the nine-thread line is a mere thread, easily broken at the slightest jerk, and that the six-thread is smaller than any trout line in use, some reason for the general breaking up of tackle at the first encounter may be seen. In a word, these anglers are fair fishermen; they are approaching the game with the lightest possible tackle, while one, the Baron, is using an ordinary trout rod cut down to six feet, on the reel of which his six-thread line of eight hundred or twelve hundred feet is strung. It would be interesting to lovers of economics to detail the amount of tackle taken by these anglers, and to give the exact data as to how many lines, hooks, and leaders each lost in his attempts to establish a high standard of sport in the waters of San Clemente, but space will not permit, and it only remains to say that all fish not actually needed were released. Rarely did an angler take one out of seven or eight hooked, and it required from thirty to fifty minutes, sometimes longer, and in one instance five hours, to catch or lose the game.

The prospective game of these anglers was yellowtail or amber-fish, which ranges up to eighty pounds, averaging thirty; the white seabass, one hundred pounds, the black sea-bass, four or five hundred pounds, swordfish, one hundred and fifty pounds, rock bass, barracuda, and

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