Striped Bass Fishing 



his basket, laden with menhaden packed 

 in ice. He has a square piece of board, 

 which he places on a rock, around which 

 are a mass of debris of menhaden bones 

 and heads; and catching up one of these 

 fish from his basket, he hastily scales it, 

 and cuts off the entire side close to the 

 backbone. An incision is made length- 

 wise through the flesh to the skin, which 

 enables him to double it together, skin to 

 skin and the flesh all outside, and the bait 

 is ready a mass about four inches in 

 length and weighing about two ounces. 

 The hook, a No. 9", is then carefully 

 attached to the line ; the hook is furnished 

 with a round knob on its upper end, and 

 tapers from the shank to this knob. Two 

 half-hitches are taken with the line on this 

 taper below the knob ; then the end of the 

 line is used to make a third half-hitch over 

 the first two ; the body of the line then 

 makes a fourth over the others, and the 

 end being taken between the teeth and the 

 line in one hand, the hitches are drawn 

 tight, whilst the hook is revolved by the 

 other hand, so that when the end is cut 

 off short, the hook will revolve without 

 twisting the line. A good fisherman will 

 do this himself, and when passing in his 

 rod to get a new bait put on, will always 

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