250 Life in the Open 



small boat alongside. The moment he hooked the fish 

 the boatman pushed off and rowed after the game, 

 adopting the method so successful in tuna fishing. The 

 bass took him one hundred yards or so to sea in the 

 first run. In the meantime I had cast from the launch, 

 and hardly had the bait reached the bottom before my 

 reel began what proved a requiem for lost tackle. I 

 was firmly anchored, and the bass took my line and 

 tip ; then more line and two tips, and after I had 

 hooked four fish and used up my rods, demonstrating 

 that I could not stop them from an anchored launch, 

 I threw over a handline and presently landed a bass of 

 100 pounds ; then one of 248 pounds, the latter with 

 the aid of the General, who, singularly enough, left his 

 fish after two hours' fight and came aboard for lunch 

 and reinforcement. The bass had towed the boat about, 

 giving them a battle royal, and had finally reached 

 kelp and fouled, but it was still hooked. The line was 

 tautened and the rod lashed to a tin oil-can and left 

 floating. Later a grapnel was successfully used to tear 

 away the kelp, and in half an hour the bass was gaffed, 

 and with two other large fish we steamed for port. The 

 General's bass weighed 227 pounds, while my hand- 

 line catches weighed respectively looand 248 pounds. 

 I had timed him at the strike, and he brought his fish 

 to gaff in two hours and thirty-eight minutes. 



This was in 1894. Then came the catch of Mr. S. 

 M. Beard, of New York, who took several large fish 

 with rod and reel, and finally that of Mr. F. V. Rider, 



