Viewpoint / Letters : Maybe More Than Fish Are Taking the Bait

I must be one of the unluckiest fishermen in Los Angeles. Whenever I go fishing on one of the areas’ popular party boats it seems as though no more than 30 fish are caught. However, each day The Times’ Fish Report informs me that hundreds (sometimes thousands) of fish are landed daily.

I understand that The Times is not responsible for the accuracy of these reports but it does seem to me that the landing operators are a little imaginative, not only in the amount of fish caught, but also in the type of fish caught. Whoever heard of a “Johnny Bass,” “Jack Smelt,” “Pink-Eye Salmon” or a “Bonito Shark”? Just some of the examples I’ve seen published. The most interesting was the “White Sea Ass” (a typographical error, I hope).

Perhaps I’m fishing in the wrong spots.

PAUL PATIERNO

Santa Monica