The Channel- bass 189 



vicinity. When I reached the St. Johns and cast 

 my luck among the genial pilots of Pilottown and 

 the shadmen of Mayport, I was told that in the 

 mouth of the river I would find the finest channel- 

 bass fishing in America. This was bewildering, 

 but the end was not, as on a trip to Jacksonville 



I met an old friend, N , who had advised me 



by all means to take a run down through the 

 Indian River country to catch "red-horse." 

 Another friend who lived at Tampa invited me 

 to go over and try the " reef -bass." While talk- 

 ing over the fishing outlook with an angler in 

 New Orleans, he asked why I did not take a run 

 to the coast and try the Poisson rouge ; while 

 at San Antonio, Texas, I was regaled with stories 

 of the big Fez Colorado to be had down at 

 Aransas Pass and all alongshore. What a diver- 

 sity, what a plethora, of sport these titles open 

 up to the mental vision of the insatiate angler! 

 Yet everywhere I found the same fish was meant ; 

 namely, Scicznops ocellatus. It will come to 

 this: 



SCENE, INDIAN RIVER. ANGLERS PASSING 



First Angler. What luck ? 



Second Angler (a better fisherman than grammarian). Fine. 

 Ten Scmnops ocellatus. ^Boatman faints. 



