76 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OP THE BLACK BASS. 



non-dowel joints (made by Tlios. H. Chubb), on the Resti- 

 gouche river, and cast constantly Avith it for ten days, on 

 an average of eight hours a day ; but neither the constant 

 casting of a long and heavy line, nor the play of a heavy 

 fish affected the joints a particle ; tliey were in as perfect 

 apposition upon being taken apart at night as they were 

 when put together in the morning. 



During one of my visits to Florida I used for sea fishing 

 a heavy Henshall ash and lancewood rod of eleven ounces, 

 with flush joints, made by Abbey & Irabrie, and an ash and 

 lancewood striped Bass rod of fifteen ounces, Vfhh. doweled 

 joints, by another maker. With the former I killed redfish, 

 drum and tarpon up to forty pounds, crevalle up to thirty, 

 bluefish as high as ten, and bonefish of five pounds — I can 

 not say just how many, but certainly hundreds of various 

 sizes — and that rod is just as good to-day as Avhen I first 

 received it. In casting heavy mullet bait, in this style of 

 fishing, the rod never came apart, nor was there the slight- 

 est loosening of either of the joints, in casting the bait or 

 in playing a fish. 



But my experience with the heavier striped Bass rod, 

 with doweled joints, was not so pleasant, for although tjie 

 joints seemed to fit perfectly, no looseness or shaking being 

 perceptible, they separated several times in casting, and 

 once Avhile playing a heavy fish, and it was at last rendered 

 hors de combat by breaking square off just below the fer- 

 rule of the butt-piece while casting, in consequence of be- 

 ing weakened by the mortise at that point. Now this was 

 a handsome, av ell-finished rod, made of the best materials, 

 and with as perfectly fitting doweled joints as I ever saw 

 in any rod, and for which I paid a long price. I hold that 

 the tapered dowel, in the correspondingly tapered mortise. 



