CHAPTER II 



THE WHITE SEA-BASS 

 "If I can but hold him." IZAAK WALTON. 



THERE is an element of chance in sea-angling 

 found in no other sport. I remember that my 

 old boatman on the St. Lawrence knew every 

 rock and shoal in a thirty-mile row around 

 Grenadier Island and would often indicate a 

 strike in advance. So with trout-fishing, every 

 frequenter of certain streams has the picture of 

 favorite pools photographed on his memory. 

 With the sea-angler the reverse holds. He 

 " grasps the skirt of happy chance " and boldly 

 sails out upon the unknown sea of Fortunatus 

 without pointer or tip, with absolutely nothing 

 except his inherent luck, upon which he stakes 

 his all on this happy day. 



The sea-angler is often superstitious. He 

 has his whims and fancies. He assumes that a 

 lost fish tells its companions; that it is worse 

 than useless to fish on the ebb tide, and doubts 



