212 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



And now we are ready to go a-fishing ; and, as for fish, 

 the settler need not go far to seek them ; they are in every 

 lake or lakelet all over the country, in every river, in 

 every inlet or bay. 



In the inland lakes and rivers, the principal fish is the 

 trout, as it is here called — but in reality the true "black 

 bass" of the North and West. This is a large fish of fine 

 flavor, and a prime favorite with every one either for boil- 

 ing or frying, the specimens caught weighing all the way 

 from one pound to seventeen or twenty. Trolling is one 

 way to capture them ; and it is no despicable sport, as the 

 boat is rowed along, to feel the sudden pull and subsequent 

 jerks on the distant hooks that tell of a prisoner at the 

 other end of the line — a victim of mistaken greed. What 

 is there, we wonder, in that bright bit of whirling tin that 

 spins around on the surface of the water that the swift 

 trout should pursue and make fierce war upon it — to find 

 itself, alas ! "taken in and done for"? But, after all, why 

 wonder at the foolishness of a fish, when we see the same 

 thing every day enacted in the highest scale of creation ? 



Trolling is not the only method of capturing the trout : 

 a good-sized hook, a strong line, and a small live fish at the 

 end of the hook, will be very likely to bring its reward; 

 for it is on these small fish, about three to five inches long, 

 that the trout principally subsist, and if there are any in 

 the vicinity of your " prisoner at large," it will not be long 

 before it and the hook go down and your trout goes up. 



If one wishes trout for breakfast and dinner, and has 

 not time to go out on the lake and fish according to the 

 old, approved method, there is another — a lazy way — of 

 accomplishing the desired end. 



Take as many bottles as you please — it depends a gf)od 

 deal on the size of your home lake — not small medicine 

 bottles, but brandy or large wine bottles, cork them se- 



