The Blackfish in 



as well as fish. It was amusing to my 

 friends of the heavy poles to see me flail 

 the salty ripples with what they laughingly 

 termed a "toy fishing rod," and it was 

 also amusing to me to note their surprise 

 at seeing me kill two-pound and three- 

 pound fish on this marvellous little instru- 

 ment. It was my first play at blackfish 

 with trout tackle, but I had little difficulty 

 in hooking, playing, and boating them. 

 They are coarse-looking bass-shaped fish 

 of a black-brown color, and on the hook 

 and in the broiler they are not to be de- 

 spised by anybody. The species is a bot- 

 tom feeder, but the first one I caught a 

 three-pound specimen seemed to take 

 the bait at the very instant it touched the 

 water, and the strike was a glorious one. 

 I thought I had a striped bass to deal with. 

 The little rod was nearly bent double at 

 times during the play, and the reel a com- 

 mon-click, holding only twenty-five yards 

 of line made the biggest fuss it ever 

 made in its history. And the landing 



