SEA-BASS AND OTHER FISHES. 29I 



for all — those destructive engines, the pound-net and the 

 mile-long seine, not having as yet been introduced. 

 Twenty-five or thirty Red Bass have been taken by one rod, 

 in the Halifax, in a day, weighing some two hundred to two 

 hundred and fifty pounds. The largest one ever taken by 

 the writer weighed thirty-seven pounds, and the struggle 

 lasted about forty minutes. It was taken on a rod, from a 

 boat, and the fish towed us at least one hundred yards before 

 it was gaffed. Its mate, weighing twenty-five pounds, was 

 soon after taken by my boatman, with a hand-line. My 

 next in size weighed thirty pounds, and while playing it, my 

 companion hooked its mate, weighing twenty-eight pounds, 

 at the other end of the boat. Both were saved in about 

 thirty minutes time. The same tackle that is used for the 

 Striped Bass is suitable for his southern cousin, except that 

 a sinker of one or two ounce weight is used in casting from 

 the reel, and it is unnecessary here to use gut or delicate 

 tackle, which is apt to be cut by the oyster shells that cover 

 the bottom of the best feeding-grounds of the Bass. Use a 

 two-pieced bamboo rod — what is called a chum-rod — eight 

 feet long; one hundred yards of Cuttyhunk line, and fifteen 

 thread, with multiplying reel, with drag. In the matter of 

 hooks, anglers have their different fancies, and I have never 

 been able to find exactly the hook for Red Bass. It should 

 be sharp and penetrating, and at the same time heavy in the 

 wire — the hollow-point Limerick, seven-o, does pretty 

 well, but I have seen a hook known as Abby & Imbries 

 Whiting hook three-o, which I prefer — I use them ringed, 

 as more easy to tie to the snood, for which I use a 

 cotton line rather heavier than the reel line, as a fine line 

 is apt to be frayed off by the teeth of the Bass. We lose 

 many hooks from the oyster shells, and some anglers use 

 a fine wire next the hook. Perhaps the best pattern of hook 

 is the Sproat, but they do not come ringed or flatted. Add 

 to this equipment a stout long-handled gaff, and a pair of knit 



