The White Sea-bass 17 



constant waiting that is sometimes the feature of 

 the day's luck, and thrusts his rod beneath his 

 knee to read or drop asleep, is always a victim to 

 poor luck, as by some occult eighth or ninth sense 

 the fish invariably selects this exact moment to 

 strike the bait, and it is always the largest fish 

 which have this artful discernment. This is so 

 infallible a rule, so well known among sea- 

 anglers, that I have often changed my luck and 

 forced a record fish to bite by merely dropping 

 my rod into the oarlock, pretending to be engaged 

 in some minor distraction. The moment I was 

 thoroughly involved, my face deep in the folds of 

 a coat, hoping to form a conjunction between 

 cigar and match, the fish would strike; but it 

 was a subterfuge, and before the fish had taken 

 ten feet of line, I was ready for the play. I 

 deduce from this that good luck means good and 

 careful equipment, a good gaffer and boatman, 

 good reels, lines, hooks, and the right kind of bait 

 all the time ; in a word, the application to fishing 

 of the same rules which make one famous or suc- 

 cessful in any phase of life. 



It is worth crossing the continent in June from 

 New York to Avalon to sit on the veranda of 

 the hotels and listen to the tuna anglers, at the 



