442 ]U)()K OF TFIE I'.r.ACK P.ASS. 



ing than skittering. It is a mode of fishing cspcciallv 

 adapted to the waters of tlic Gnlf States, where ii is much 

 practiced. The im})lements for bobbing are few and sim- 

 ple, consisting merely of a strong rod from ten to tweiitv 

 feet in length, t\\o or three feet of stout line, and the 

 " bob," heretofore described in Chapter XVII. 



I can not describe this method of angling better than 

 to qnote from Bartram, who wrote of the " Trout " (Black- 

 Bass) of Florida and the way of taking them with the 

 bob, in 1764, as follows: — 



"They are taken witli a hook and line, but without any 

 l)ait. Two people are in a little canoe, one sitting in the 

 stern to steer, and the other near the bow, having a rod 

 ten or twelve feet in length, to one end of which is tied a 

 string line, about twenty inches in length, to which is 

 fastened three large hooks, back to back. These are fixed 

 very securely, and tied with the white hair of a deer's tail, 

 shreds of a red garter, and some parti-colored feathers, all 

 which form a tuft or tassel nearly as large as one's fist, 

 and entirely cover and conceal the hooks ; that is called a 

 " bob," The steersman paddles softly, and proceeds slowly 

 along shore ; he now ingeniously swings the bob back- 

 wards and forwards, just above the surface and sometimes 

 ti|5s the water with it, when the unfortunate cheated Trout 

 instantly s])rings from under the reeds and seizes the ex- 

 ])oscd j>rey." 



I have many times seen the bob used in Florida just as 

 described by Bartram more than a century ago, and it is 

 just as effective to-day as it was then. II" there is any 

 thing in the notion of certain angling authorities, that fi>h 

 after a time become educated or accustomed to certain ar- 

 tificial baits, as files, etc. — l)ecoining first suspicions, and 



