creel will hold a dim opinion of Florida's piscatorial possibili- 

 ties. And one who thinks that the beginning and the end of 

 Florida fishing lies in the conventional, guided trips, together 

 with the bottom-fishing which one observes from every bridge, 

 and even from front yards, has missed endless adventures. 



Suppose you are such a tourist: an old black-bass and pick- 

 erel man. Naturally you leave the bait-casting rods at home. The 

 2-ounce tip, the hundred yards of 1 2-pound test line, your 

 favorite bass plugs in Florida? In the ocean? Crazy, you are 

 sure. So you fondly store them away and make one of the major 

 blunders of your life. 



Down around the end of Florida lie the Keys accessible by a 

 dramatic highway and around the Keys lie thousands of square 

 miles of water some of it only a foot deep, very little of it over 

 your head. At a hundred spots along the road you can rent an 

 outboard motorboat. Then with your bass tackle (and only one 

 change: a wire leader for the gut you may have used) you are 

 set for a style of angling with which you are familiar. In a sense, 

 that is. You are set for lake-calm water, warm sun, shore line with 

 coves and weed beds, fallen trees, channels and holes all ideal 

 for a well-aimed plug. 



You run your boat over toward some rotted pilings off shore 

 a spot where a pickerel might hang out in fresh water. You cast, 

 and work your plug. From here on I leave you to yourself with 

 these hints. 



Plug casting is tied, in my own mind, with trolling for the 

 great game fishes, as top fun in salt-water angling. 



Your cast may bring a rushing hit that knocks the plug into 

 the air and a second hit which takes it under water. You may 

 find yourself engaged in a hard fight that resembles the battle 

 of a smallmouth bass and finally bringing in a perch-like fish 

 of one, two, six, even eight pounds which will prove to be a 

 member of the snapper family. I think you will agree that a 

 snapper on a plug is the equal of a bass to fight or to eat! 



But it may not have been a snapper that was lying in the 

 shadow of those piles. It could have been a snook which is a 

 pike-like character. Or a sea trout. Or a jack and a minor jack 



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