78 The American Angler 
few pennies, if the darkey be not sati- 
ated with bread, fruit and sugar cane. 
The only time to tempt the rivers 
denizens is from 6:30 A. M. tO Io A. M., 
when a fair amount of sport may be 
obtained if there happens to be a little 
freshet. ~The mullet rush from the 
sea up the available brooks in schools, 
separating as they get into the afore- 
mentioned pools and reaches. They 
rise readily, but somehow play with the 
fly rather than make the determined 
heavy plunge indicative of free taking. 
When hooked, they dance about and 
jump, like charr, clear out of the water, 
creating quite a modest disturbance. 
Two dozen, averaging four ounces, 
with a stray Cro cro, is a very good 
morning’s work and deserving of the 
orthodox ante-breakfast ‘‘swizzle,” a 
recipe for which the colonial surgeon 
and chief swizzler of the Anglers’ Club, 
of St. Vincent, will forward to any New 
York brother if in return he is supplied 
the krect cyard for blending ‘‘an an- 
gler’s’ delight,”” which to me is the un- 
known quantity in some American pis- 
catorial equation, which has evidently 
been resolved into components. 
‘‘Sea, sah!’’ Such is the pleasing 
reminder that itis 6 a. M., and if you 
wish to tempt the finny beauties, large 
and rare, you must not take another 
turn, but up at once and into a glorious 
bath, if you prefer not the open sea. 
In all West Indian houses bathing is 
the first consideration, and certainly a 
plunge into a cistern nine feet square, 
with four feet of water, is in such a 
climate a supreme luxury. Rods are 
fixed, lines and gearing overhauled, 
some slight refection packed away, and 
everything is ready for starting. By 
this time the sun is just beginning to 
bathe the topmost cones and ridges in 
carmine splendor and the sea slowly 
assumes a deep purple-blue tinge, 
through which the boat, glancing on 
its way to the feeding banks, throws 
aside cerulean spray shimmering with 
silver and gold. 
Grouper and red snapper frequent 
the same feeding haunts and take the 
same bait. They run large, especially 
the snapper, and, should a stiff bait 
rod be used with fairly light tackle, 
give good play. The grouper, though, 
is the fish par carcellence, for it is fas- 
tidious and wary, and once hooked, 
it tries as many artifices to get loose as 
a boodle alderman under the district 
attorney’s tender manipulation. The 
usual snooding for grouper tackle is 
about two feet of medium brass wire. I, 
however, found a foot line of double 
twisted salmon gut about three’ feet 
long, withastraight bent Limerick No. 
3, sufficiently leaded to keep the line 
taut. a far more efficacious method of 
capture. The best bait is shrimp or a 
small crab found along the shore, but 
a scalp off any fresh fish, if not mauled 
in setting up, will, in all probability, 
tempt the variegated devils to give you 
their acquaintance. I have killed many 
fish in many waters, but never experi- 
enced the difficulty attendant on bring- 
ing a six pound grouper to gaff when 
using the tackle described. 
If a grouper is hungry he means 
business, and quickly lets you know he 
does not understand restraint and that 
he will not calmly tolerate your in- 
dulgent humor, but brings at once 
tricks beyond your varied experience to 
bear so as to test your patience to the 
utmost; woe! if ycu are nervous: A 
savage run of twenty yards at such a 
rate that to attempt a check would 
mean crash! smash! and go home, fol- 
lowed by a sudden double in all prob- 
ability under the boat and that so rapid 
