Stri/xti Buss Fishing 



the pleasures or the sport in the congratu- 

 lations and rejoicings of fellow-members. 

 The fellow weighed 42 Ibs. ; and the face- 

 tious secretary of the Club in solemn voice 

 announced that he "had been appointed a 

 special committee of six, to invite me to 

 immediately leave the island, as for any 

 member to come down and catch a 42- 

 pounder within a few hours, when all 

 hands had been fishing three weeks with- 

 out results, was not to be borne ! " I pleaded 

 in extenuation that I thought when the 

 circumstances of the catch were narrated, 

 I might be pardoned ; and then told to the 

 wondering group the story, and showed 

 the damaged fin. I was graciously ac- 

 corded the pardon of the Club, and the 

 record-book was made to duly recount the 

 incident. 



Each day some different state of the 

 water required the change of bait from 

 menhaden to lobster tail or small eels. All 

 vary the sport, and furnish the endless nar- 

 ratives with which a group of old fisher- 

 men beguile the placid hours spent in the 

 sitting-room and on the long piazzas. 

 They tell of the enormous fellows they 

 have lost ; how this one ran nearly the 

 whole line off his reel, when it was cut off 

 by a bluefish; how that one was so great, 



'53 



