64 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



which you have experienced in the immediate vicinity of 

 New York, but that it will prove a foretaste of a whole sea- 

 son to be hereafter enjoyed in angling and trolling for the 

 game fishes of our coast and estuaries. 



o 



SECTION FIFTH. 



CASTING BAIT FOR STRIPED BASS. 



Casting menhaden bait for striped bass from the rocky 

 shores of the bays, estuaries, and islands along the Atlantic 

 coast constitutes the highest branch of American angling. 

 It is indeed questionable when considering all the elements 

 which contribute toward the sum total of sport in angling 

 whether this method of striped bass fishing is not superior 

 to fly-fishing for salmon, and if so, it outranks any angling 

 in the world. The method is eminently American, and char- 

 acteristic of the modern angler by its energy of style, and 

 the exercise and activity necessary to success. 



REELS for this kind of fishing have taxed the ingenuity of 

 the best fishing-tackle makers in the Union. The balance 

 crank should be designed with the greatest nicety of propor- 

 tions, to prevent a momentum hard to check with the thumb, 

 and still the crank should not be so short as to be difficult in 

 reeling. The crank should also be placed so far back and 

 low on the end of the reel as not to endanger the fingers of 

 the angler by a sudden strike of a heavy fish, for a bass does 

 not, like the salmon, stop to study the cause of a pain in the 

 jaw, but straightway makes- a run without hesitation. The 

 best materials for reels are supposed to be German silver, 

 brass, or bell-metal. The wheels should run on jewels, and 

 be so covered with an inner case as to protect them from 

 salt water. The reel should not be too long ; the one repre- 

 sented on the plate of bassing implements indicates the shape. 

 It should be a triple multiplier, without check or drag, and 

 large enough to carry from two to three hundred yards of 

 fine linen line. 



LINES should either be of linen or hemp, hawser-laid, or of 



