376 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



I have seen him drop a line ioo feet from the point where 

 he was standing, without any exertion. I soon "caught on," 

 and since that time have laid out a line in a way that even 

 old George admired. 



Fishing up in Michigan with a party of Indiana friends, I 

 had in the same boat a friend who used an Orvis combina- 

 tion rod and a Milam reel a successful fisherman and an 

 enthusiast. The waters had been fished a great deal that 

 summer, so our hopes for fish depended on the skill dis- 

 played in casting. My reel was an Abbey & Imbrie click 

 and drag. My friend was casting overhead, a style adopted 

 from Dr. Henshall's methods in fishing for Black Bass. He 

 caught some small Bass and Pickerel, but no large fish; yet 

 we were in waters famous for the Northern Pike. 



My rod was a bethabara-wood, heavy for its size, but which 

 would spring almost like steel. Putting on a large shiner for 

 bait, and drawing out about fifty feet of line, I coiled it in 

 my left hand as described; bringing my rod round to the 

 right with a sharp swing, my bait was spinning in the air just 

 a little above the water. The line uncoiling from my hand 

 just as I wanted it, it dropped sixty feet away from me, tak- 

 ing up all my slack; my friend's bait dropped about the same 

 distance from him, his Milam reel giving him all the advan- 

 tage. Not getting any strike, I again gathered up the line 

 until almost close to the boat; elevating the tip and swing- 

 ing the bait higher, slipping the drag off the reel, my line 

 ran out and the bait dropped out about ninety feet, without 

 any plashing. The first jerk I gave, the bait was seized; 

 something left a big swirl on the surface of the water; the 

 line ran out about ten feet and stopped. I let it go, gave the 

 fish a chance to swallow the bait, and then struck sharp 

 enough to set the hook. The fish resented this treatment, 

 and went off on a tear. The reel buzzed, my line steamed 

 as it tore through the standing guides; the weeds through 

 which the fish passed were cut and floated to the top of the 



