| STRIPED BASS (Roccus lineatus) |
STRIPED BASS
(Roccus lineatus)
The striped bass, like many people who have crossed the continent to California, readily appreciated the many advantages of a life on the Pacific Coast. From a couple of shipments brought from the East in 1879 and 1882 they have grown to be one of the most important food fishes of the state, about 3,000,000 pounds being annually marketed. They were at first liberated in the Bay of San Francisco, but later some effort has been made to distribute them, with the result that they are now found in small quantities along the coast from Los Angeles to Humboldt.
From their fine size—three to forty pounds—they stand well with the angler as a game fish and furnish good sport if the tackle is light enough. Their rushes are not equal to those of the steelhead or the salmon or the yellow-tail, nor do they fight with the same vigor or with the same persistency.
The striped bass is unlike any other coast fish. Its back is light olive; sides, nearly white with seven or eight longitudinal stripes running the whole length of the body, the dorsal fin is double, but not joined like that of the black bass. The first half is spiny with the after division rayed and soft. It is a salt water fish, making its habitat in and near the mouths of rivers, and often running up them for 100 miles or more. Use the same rod and line as for salmon.
THE GAME FISH OF THE SEA
There certainly is no better sport to be had any place with the trout, salmon and bass than that furnished by the rivers, lakes and bays of the Pacific Coast. To this excellent sport must be added another of the most exciting character, and one distinctly Californian, and that is the capture with rod and reel of the large sea fishes found in the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel, and more especially of Catalina Island. The great variety, gamy qualities and massive size of these fishes furnish a sport at once exciting and exhilarating, and challenging the keenest exercise of the ability of the sportsman.