454 



Striped Bass. 



Cases are upon record where anglers have been washed from the 

 rocks, and have narrowly escaped with their lives. Even on these 

 stands it is not always safe, although they are supposed to be above 

 high- water mark. Sometimes, during the spring-tides, when the 

 wind has lashed the sea into a fury, or a distant storm is lending 

 additional force to the breakers, the fisherman will sit securely on his 



ON THE WAY TO THE STANDS. 



perch and see the white waters breaking angrily among the rocks 

 under his feet. The tide rises higher, but he gives little heed to it, 

 as in such perturbed waters he expects to meet with his greatest suc- 

 cess, — perhaps catch the fish which shall make him "high-hook" 

 for the year. The caps of the higher waves sweep over the sag of 

 the narrow plank which connects him with the shore, while the crests 

 of one or two bolder than the rest have lapped his feet with their icy 

 tongues ; still he continues to cast, encouraged by the taking of one 

 or two fish, or by the strike of some fish of unknown size, until 

 he is wet to the knees, though the tide cannot be more than three- 

 quarters high. An exclamation from his chummer causes him to 

 look up, and a sight meets his eye which, for a moment, appalls him 

 — an enormous, unbroken roller, stretching the length of the coast, 

 and coming on at race-horse speed, followed by two others equally 



