Fishing by the Tribes of Northern California was, and is, not restricted to the rivers. The coastal Indian people also depended a great deal on subsistence from the ocean's shores. Seaweed and surf fish were dried and stored for winter use. Smelt, a small silvery trout-like fish arrives at the ocean's beaches in the summer to spawn. They are harvested with a surf-fishing net then carefully dried for storage. First, they are air dried on logs, then placed on a bed of pebbles, which allows the air to circulate and keeps them off the sand. Depending on the weather, the process may take several days. Here, Annie Kirby poses with a bed of drying smelt for a photo taken about 1920 at Lufenholtz Beach (near Trinidad, California). The Indian People of Trinidad and Smith River, California still prepare surf fish in the traditional manner.
