CHAPTER XXV. 



SKITTERING AND BOBBING. 



" Then, if you get a grasshopper, put it on your hook, with your line about 

 two yards long ; standing behind a bush or tree, where his hole is, and make 

 your bait stir up and down on the top of the water." IZAAK WALTON. 



SKITTERING. 



"SKITTERING" is best practiced with a long and light 

 natural cane-rod, from twelve to fifteen feet long, and a 

 strong line of nearly the same length. No reel is used, 

 for, like " bobbing," this mode of fishing is only success- 

 ful in grassy and weedy situations, where the water is 

 comparatively shallow, notably, in the lagoons and bayous 

 of the extreme South, and where the fish must be landed 

 as soon as possible after being hooked. To the end of 

 the line is attached a small trout-spoon, or the skitter- 

 in g-spoon, which is still smaller, being the smallest re- 

 volving spoon made. 



The modus operandi is as follows : The angler stands in 

 the bow of the boat, which is paddled or poled by the 

 boatman as noiselessly as possible, just outside of or along 

 the channels of clear water, among the patches of rushes, 

 lily-pads or bonnets. The angler, by means of the long 

 rod and short line, skitters or skips the spoon along the 

 surface of the water with a jerky or vibratory motion, 

 (440) 



