92 THE ANGLER'S GUIDE 



the old bayman grabs him with both hands and flops him 

 up on the deck. 



"Well, sir," says Brant, "I aint seed a thing done as 

 nicely es that pole fishing o' yourn an' mister Wilstach 

 since thet ere boy o' mine got his fingers in a crab's claw 

 an' jerked th' crab acciden' like right inter the bilin' pot. 

 No, sir, an' et beats han'linin' all holler, even ef we don' 

 git one fish to a hundred es we'd ketch with th' han'line. 

 Them big guides on thet little pole is great, they let th' 

 line run free when yer put out in ther chum way, an' they 

 don' friction th' line when yer rellin' in. Thet's fine, 

 genelmen, an' your guides oughter be th' same. Yer hev 

 teh struggle teh git yer line out with them little tight guides, 

 an' with this pole's guides th' line runs off the reel jes' es 

 my han'line 'd run off th' deck." 



The Captain is bubbling over with practical observa- 

 tions, and this extra large guide idea is not the worst of 

 them. 



In this sort of fishing it is not practical to cast from the 

 reel or even toss the gear with the rod, because, as the old 

 bayman has remarked, it is all important to let the bait 

 sink and float with the chum, starting it directly at the 

 side or stern of the sloop; therefore fully fifteen feet of 

 line must be uncoiled and discharged in a mess. Then the 

 line must run freely from the reel until it is all but entirely 

 out or until the strike comes. Thus my guides, all agate, 

 like the tip, and four or five times as large as the ordinary 

 bait-rod guides, prove a revelation when in operation in 

 company with the rods of my friends, all of whom openly 

 remark the wonderful advantage I have, especially in 

 letting out line, and I feel that a like advantage would be 

 observed in manipulating this advanced device in any 

 style of bait fishing in any sort of water, fresh or salt. 



My rod on this occasion is a steel bait rod of four pieces 

 including the butt or handle, weighs six ounces, and is of 

 about five feet in length just the tool for large bluefish, medi- 

 um striped bass, weakfish, sea bass, blackfish and fluke, and 

 the large bait-rod species in fresh water muskalonge, 

 lake trout, black bass, pickerel and pike though, of course, 

 light and resilient as it is for a bait rod, it is still too stiff 

 for bay weakfish, the little striped bass of the rivers, young 

 bluefish (snapper), porgie, etc., and far too light for the 

 surf striped bass, sea drum, black sea bass, tarpon, etc. 



Pierce uses an eight-ounce greenheart rod, Griggs an 

 eight-ounce lancewood, and Wilstach, as I have said, a 

 light steel rod, though not as light as mine, but still a 

 remarkably light instrument when compared to the ordi- 

 nary salt water affair, the abominable, cheap, heavy, 

 clumsy so-called casting rod, stout enough for a tent pole 

 and as homely as a clothes prop. 



The tide is out now, and the bluefish have gone to sea 

 to make a night of it; so, we reel in our lines, as the Cap- 

 tain and his boy swash the deck, tidy the cabin and make 

 ready for the bay food dinner broiled bluefish, steamed 



