CHAPTER X. 



Surf-Casting, Trolling, Still Fishing, Etc. 



MODE of fishing practiced by salt-water an- 

 glers and much in vogue along the eastern 

 coast is what is known as surf-casting. It 

 is a sort of bait-casting from the beach 

 into the ocean surf where certain fish such 

 as channel bass and striped bass resort to 

 feed on crabs, sea worms and certain shell 

 fish that stay just at the edge of the deep water made by 

 the waves in the sand. At a certain distance out this line 

 will be found, a sudden deepening of the water, a cut of 

 from a few inches to several feet deep. In this water is 

 where the surf-casting is done, that is to say, the bait is 

 cast to that place. 



The rod for this kind of fishing was described else- 

 where. It should be seven and a half to nine feet long if 

 made with the plain, long butt, and somewhat longer if 

 with spring butt. It should be of split bamboo and should 

 weigh in the neighborhood of twenty ounces, the weight of 

 course depending on the length. The line should be 150 or 

 200 yards long and made of twisted linen, about 12 or 18 

 thread size. The reel should be a double multiplier made 

 specially for this kind of fishing, with a throw-off to make 

 it a free-spool reel when casting, and it should have a handle 

 drag or leather brake. To the end of the line a triangular 

 swivel is fastened and to this a six-ounce pyramidical sinker 

 and a short leader, a foot or a little more in length and made 

 of six strands of gut, braided. The hook is a 9/0 for red 

 drum and striped bass. Shedder crab is used mostly, for 



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