CHAPTER XIII 



THE CHANNEL-BASS 



" The blessing of St. Peter's, master, be upon all that hate 

 contentions, and love quietnesse, and virtue, and go a-angling." 



IZAAK WALTON. 



INNES RANDOLPH has described the channel- 

 bass or red-drum in verse : 



" Long as a salmon, if not so stout, 

 And springy and swift as a mountain trout." 



Any one who has taken the fish will recognize 

 the faithfulness of the picture. The poet is too 

 modest; the fish is often longer than a salmon, 

 and far more active than a trout. In truth, the 

 marine fishes have so long been caught with 

 heavy hand-lines that their true game qualities 

 have never been fully appreciated. Let the trout- 

 fly fisherman take a bonito of six pounds with the 

 rod with which a six-pound trout has been suc- 

 cessfully landed, or attempt to catch a seventeen- 

 pound yellowtail or kingfish with the correctly 

 appointed salmon rod, which has taken salmon of 

 similar weight, and the relative qualities of the 



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