THE STRIPED BJSS 



methods of capturing the striped bass, and baits 

 used, are very numerous. The small boy uses the 

 shrimp and clam in the brackish creek ; the artifi- 

 cial fly is used on the Potomac ; trolls in the tide- 

 ways ; tolls with menhaden bait from the stages at 

 Cuttyhunk ; and seines and nets by the market 

 fishermen offshore. 



Yachtsmen occasionally enjoy immense sport 

 while bluefishing, and hook a striped bass now and 

 then. I do not enjoy bluefishing with a hand 

 line, — the usual method, — but use a stiff salmon 

 rod and reel, and when a fish is hooked, bring the 

 yacht up into the wind, and play the fish like a 

 salmon. In this manner I have often caught 

 striped bass in the vicinity of Buzzard's Bay and the 

 Vineyard Sound, and it affords royal sport. They 

 will take the eel-skin very readily, or a troll baited 

 with pieces of menhaden, or simply a piece of pork. 

 Weight the line heavily, and let the lead bob along 

 on the bottom ; a short line with the baited hook 

 attached to the line about four to six feet from the 

 sinker is a very alluring method. The almost 

 universal method of fishing for striped bass is cast- 

 ing menhaden bait, and it is about the only way 

 sportsmen fish for them. Of this method Mr. 

 Scott says : " Casting menhaden bait for striped bass 

 from the rocky shores of the bays, estuaries, and 



vol. H. — II J6! 



