FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 13 



take the fly eagerly, and in doing so will give more excitement, per- 

 haps, than genuine pleasure to the enthusiastic fly-caster who is un- 

 willing to place any fish under the heading Game, before he has as- 

 sured himself that the member of the finny tribe in question will 

 seize a surface lure in the sh^pe of an artificial fly. 



In all salt water fishing, with hardly an exception, the hours when 

 the tide is rising afford the best scoring time, and this is invariably 

 true in striped bass fishing. In fly fishing for the bass the top of the 

 flood is the right tinie, a little before the tide will turn. The angler 

 may stand in the stern of the boat while the boatman rows him 

 about over the flooded flats and still waters near the shores. A large 

 fly must be used, a red ibis or a red and white one, in fact any of 

 those bright ones used in salmon fishing. It will sometimes be well to 

 let the fly sink beneath the surface six or eight inches. All of the 

 above methods of fishing are tame and commonplace compared with 

 that acme of all angling on the Atlantic coast — surf fishing for the 

 striped bass. It is also called " chumming," but the " chumming" 

 part of the sport is not performed by the angler. This surf fishing 

 is limited to a stretch of our Eastern coast, whose northern limit is 

 Cape Cod and whose southern is a little below Montauk Point. 

 The description of this widely celebrated branch of salt water fish- 

 ing, though it is known perhaps to every angler, could not well be 

 omitted in anything written about the striped bass, it is such mag- 

 nificent use of skill and tackle, such splendid practice for the 

 muscles. 



Running out from the shore, right in the midst of the rolling surf 

 and over the great boulders, a light frame work or " bridge " of 

 wood is built. It terminates in a small platform affording just room 

 enough for the fisherman and his attendant. I mentioned above 

 the necessity for the best of tackle. Now the need is doubled. 

 The rod is nine or ten feet long (each angler is sure to take the 

 length he can handle best); the reel, a triple multiplier of largest 

 size, must be most beautifully and perfectly balanced in its move- 

 ments ; the line, some four hundred feet long, is of the best linen 

 make. All these things must be well looked to, for they are indis- 

 pensable in casting. He who maker the longest casts, takes the 



