Sea Bass 



Long Branch. These steamers are well 

 patronized by thousands of practical an- 

 glers who seldom fail to bring back trophies 

 weighing four to eight pounds. The bass 

 caught in the bays, estuaries and back 

 waters are much smaller, weighing but half 

 to one and a half pounds. These fish rarely, 

 if ever, go up into brackish water. The 

 best places to angle for them is in deep 

 channels, holes under sedgy banks and over 

 wrecks or on a bottom where the black mus- 

 sel is found, this being a favorite haunt 

 where many may be captured. They will 

 take the bait from Decoration Day to Oc- 

 tober, but the larger sized fish are taken 

 in inside waters from September to Octo- 

 ber. Like the fresh-water bass, he will 

 sometimes break water, but not till he is 

 drawn near to the boat and ready to be 

 netted, when he will suddenly make a 

 vicious leap, shaking his solid body in 

 all sorts of wriggling and muscular con- 

 tortions; from the moment the hook gets 

 into his leathery jaws he makes a sturdy 



