56 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



Those who employ a man to row and gaff the fish would 

 do well to direct him to squid half a dozen hooks before start- 

 ing, and lay them aside in the boat under some wet rock- weed 

 before leaving shore. If you have ever been trolling as I 

 have when large bass were biting generously, you will real- 

 ize the force of this advice. It is unpleasant to be trolling 

 in rough waters, and, when a bass strikes the back of your 

 hook and takes your bait without fastening, to be obliged to 

 stop and squid a hook before proceeding. 



Now for the fray ! Our boats are made by Hughes, fellow- 

 apprentice of George Steers; and with Sile Wright and Sandy 

 Gibson as guides and gaffers, we shall be sculled over all the. 

 favorite trolling grounds from the ferry below to the Drowned 

 Marsh above Ward's Island. Our first move will be to\yard 

 Tide Rock, swinging Big and Little Mill Rocks on the way ; 

 then we shall glide over the Hen and Chickens, swing Holt's 

 Rock on the Hog's Back, round Nigger Point, and, stopping at 

 John Hilliker's to rest, enjoy a piece of incomparable apple- 

 pie and a glass of milk served by two charming ladies. While 

 indulging these ruminations one day, as my friend was swing- 

 ing* Holt's Rock, he hooked a large bass and played it all the 

 way round the east end of Ward's Island to Chowder Eddy, 

 where, on landing, it weighed twenty pounds. 



The sketch on the opposite page represents my friend as 

 the bass first rose and laid its course. 



I was not so fortunate as my friend ; for, as my squid was 

 struck by a large bass, Sile said he heard the rod crack ; but 

 the fish made such a long, vigorous run, that I scarcely real- 

 ized what he said, and, after turning the fish and reeling him 

 in gradually, he broke water with a leap, clearing the surface, 

 and revealing a forty-pounder. While turning and bringing 

 him toward the boat for the third time, he darted down and 



* Swinging a rock is done by the oarsman holding the boat sixty feet from 

 the rock and swinging it so that the troll will move about the rock on all 

 sides and play as if alive. This art is possessed in great perfection by Hell 

 Gate oarsmen. 



