96 Big Game Fishes 



dead, I now gently moved to make it simulate 

 life. The fish would gaze at it for a few seconds, 

 then back off to move slowly forward again, 

 tipping it over, as though wondering what was 

 the matter ; and if there was anything suspicious 

 about it, at this stage my fishing often ended. 

 They confessed to an overweening curiosity, 

 nosed the bait and moved it, when I succeeded 

 in making it struggle, but often would not take it. 

 Again my patience would be rewarded by the 

 lightninglike snap, and the fish would rise 

 proudly to later take me knee-deep into the 

 water to save the slender rod or line. 



The bait of baits is a live, vigorous sardine or 

 the "shad" referred to, and frequently I had 

 negro boys accompany me alongshore with a 

 fine cast-net, or a long piece of mosquito bar, 

 with which small fry could be taken and used 

 fresh from the water when a good-sized barracuda 

 was located. Such lures would rarely, if ever, be 

 refused, though I have known certain fishes to 

 scorn every attempt to attract their attention. In 

 fishing in deep water, peering down into the 

 channel to watch the graceful jellyfishes or the 

 long purple anchor chains of the physalia as it 

 moved along, I have seen the muzzle of a huge 



