358 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



the heavier fish generally being captured late in the season ; 

 and woe betide the angler if unprepared he should strike 

 his hook into one of the leviathans, for all his fishing para- 

 phernalia will certainly receive so severe a shock as to ren- 

 der it for after-use completely worthless that is, the por- 

 tion that is left with him. After spawning, this fish does 

 not lose its condition like the salmon, therefore his capture 

 immediately subsequent is not nearly so reprehensible, the 

 propagation of his species not injuring him to a noticeable 

 extent ; therefore, if he be fished for in the rivers after that 

 duty is performed, nothing is so attractive for his capture 

 as a gaudy sea-trout fly ; but the striped bass is not dainty, 

 and many persons of experience persistently use with the 

 greatest success a piece of white or scarlet rag tied over 

 their hook instead of the more complicated and expensive 

 imitation. Fishing in the sea, however, the shrimp is the 

 most popular and gentlemanly bait, trolled along the sur- 

 face after the manner of the fly, at which the fish break, 

 similar to trout or salmon ; still, there are days when you 

 can not thus allure them ; and soft-shell crab, spearing (a 

 small transparent fish about the size of a minnow), or squid, 

 have to be resorted to ; even the spoon-bait has been known 

 to be successful when all other attractions have failed. 



Although this fish annually chooses a change from salt 

 to fresh water, still it is not necessary for his existence, 

 numbers having been experimented on by detaining them 

 for years in fresh, where, instead of losing flesh, they were 

 pronounced to have improved much both in size and con- 

 dition. So exceedingly popular is the striped bass in 

 America, that those watering-places in whose vicinity he 

 is known to abound receive annually an immense influx of 

 visitors, attracted chiefly by the prospect of enjoying this 

 fishing. At Kittihunk even a club-house has been built, 

 and a very large association formed of the principal gentle- 



