442 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



ing than skittering. It is a mode of fishing especially, 

 adapted to the waters of the Gulf States, where it is much 

 practiced. The implements for bobbing are few and sim- 

 ple, consisting merely of a strong rod from ten to twenty 

 feet in length, two. or three feet of stout line, and the 

 " bob," heretofore described in Chapter XVII. 



I can not describe this method of angling better than 

 to quote from Bartram, who wrote of the " Trout " (Black 

 Bass) of Florida and the way of taking them with the 

 bob, in 1764, as follows: 



"They are taken with a hook and line, but without any 

 bait. Two people are in a little canoe, one sitting in the 

 stern to steer, and the other near the bow, having a rod 

 ten or twelve feet in length, to one end of which is tied a 

 string line, about twenty inches in length, to which is 

 fastened three large hooks, back to back. These are fixed 

 very securely, and tied with the white hair of a deer's tail, 

 shreds of a red garter, and some parti-colored feathers, all 

 which form a tuft or tassel nearly as large as one's fist, 

 and entirely cover and conceal the hooks ; that is called a 

 " bob." The steersman paddles softly, and proceeds slowly 

 along shore ; he now ingeniously swings the bob back- 

 wards and forwards, just above the surface and sometimes 

 tips the water with it, when the unfortunate cheated Trout 

 instantly springs from under the reeds and seizes the ex- 

 posed prey." 



I have many times seen the bob used in Florida just as 

 described by Bartram more than a century ago, and it is 

 just as effective to-day as it was then. If there is any 

 thing in the notion of certain angling authorities, that fish 

 after a time become educated or accustomed to certain ar- 

 tificial baits, as flies, etc. becoming first suspicious, and 



