STRIPED BASS 



By FRANCIS ENDICOTT. 



TO the lover of rod and reel, the striped bass, or rock-fish, as he 

 is called south of Philadelphia, is the most important of all our 

 sea fish. His habitat is so extended and his stay with us so 

 constant ; he is so eagerly sought for by anglers of all classes 

 and conditions of life ; he affords such sport in the various stages of 

 his growth, from the puny half-pounder found almost everywhere on 

 our Atlantic coast, to the enormous " green -head " who makes his 

 home in the break of the surf; he brings into play such a variety of 

 tackle, from the pin-hook of the urchin fishing from the city docks, to 

 the rods and reels of the crack bass- fisherman, — that he well merits 

 the title which is sometimes bestowed on him of the game fish par 

 excellence of the sea. 



A bright August morning found the writer, in company with a 

 member of the Cuttyhunk Club, steaming down the bay from New 

 Bedford, bound for a trip to the Elizabeth Islands and Martha's 

 Vineyard, and for a bout with the large bass which frequent the 

 rocky shores of those favored regions. 



Arriving at the mouth of the harbor, as our little craft steams 

 around Clark's Point and enters Buzzard's Bay, the whole range of 

 the Elizabeth Islands comes into full view, and we find ourselves 

 trying to repeat the old verse by which our ancestors remembered 

 their uncouth Indian names: 



" Naushon, Nonamesset, 

 Uncatema and Wepecket, 

 Nashawena, Pasquinese, 

 Cuttyhunk and Penikc'M •." 



29 449 



