no Big Game Fisbes 



Previous to 1895 the fishes were caught entirely 

 with the hand-line, but about that time General 

 Charles Viele succeeded in taking a large fish 

 with rod and reel, and since then this has been the 

 method employed anglers landing fishes ranging 

 from three hundred to four hundred pounds with 

 ordinary tuna tackle. While the rod is to be 

 commended as the most sportsmanlike, the fish 

 gives the angler more exercise with the hand-line, 

 and will easily jerk the absent-minded fisherman 

 overboard. I took my first bass in the latter 

 manner in 1886. My boatman provided a line 

 which in the East would have been sacred to 

 sharks ; the hook was a small edition of a shark 

 hook, while a chain served as a leader. The bait 

 was a five-pound whitefish, hooked through the 

 back so that it would swim. A half-pound sinker 

 was attached, and this crude contrivance, an insult 

 to the bass tribe in general, was lowered within 

 six feet of the bottom and the waiting begun. 

 " How poor are they that have no patience " 

 is well exemplified in this pastime, as without 

 patience no one ever landed a black sea-bass. 

 Catches of four or five a day have been made, but 

 the average is one, and often the wait is long and 

 wearisome to the angler who has no other re- 



