Fort Myers 



pounds' weight can be caught with a fly-rod, 

 whereas all those I saw and handled from the sea 

 were well over one hundred pounds each. In 

 the freshwater rivers an entirely different method 

 of catching them is pursued to that in the salt- 

 water passes. In the former a small boat is 

 moored anywhere in a spot that may be con- 

 sidered likely. A few dead mullet are then cut 

 up into pieces and thrown overboard in the 

 vicinity of the boat. This is termed in the 

 vernacular " chumming," but in England would 

 be known as " ground-baiting." The rod is but 

 seven feet long and very stiff ; the two I own 

 are made of ironwood, but any suitable stuff, 

 such as cane, hickory, or greenheart, may be 

 used. The reel is a multiplying one, and is large 

 enough to hold easily two hundred yards of 

 very thin but extremely strong flax line. The 

 reel has a piece of raw hide sewn on to one of its 

 bars ; this is used as a brake to check the rush 

 of the fish, and is worked by pressing the leather 

 on to the line on the drum of the reel with the 

 thumb. Two rods or more can be used in chunk- 

 bait fishing, and to the reel line is fastened a 

 snood or strip of raw hide, and to this the large 

 hook. The hooks being baited and line weighted 

 with lead to keep them on the bottom, the check 

 is taken off the reel and the baited hooks thrown 

 some distance from the boat. A little line is 



loosely coiled down on the bottom-boards of the 



N 177 



