and the Maritime Provinces. 163 



is found in its uncertainty ; who would long care for it if, at every cast, he 

 could hook a fish ? The fascination which now exists would soon dis- 

 appear." 



" You are right, Judge, "said I. " If one were always certain of killing 

 fish he would soon lose the desire for fishing. I proved this once to my 

 satisfaction. On a visit to the ponds of a well-known fish culturist in 

 Plymouth, Mass., I was permitted to cast the fly in a pool where hundreds 

 of great trout, weighing from two to six pounds, were plainly to be seen 

 swimming around in the pellucid water. As my fly dropped upon the sur- 

 face, dozens of fish sprung for it simultaneously. I had but to hook a fish, 

 play it until it was exhausted, and then the trout was killed. It was simply 

 a battue. I laid aside the rod when my third fish was landed, saying, 

 'this is not fishing, it is cold-blooded slaughter.' Yes, Judge, one of the 

 great charms of angling lies, as you say, in its uncertainty ; days without 

 number have 'you and I and all of us ' cast the fly without getting a rise, 

 but we never lost our love for the 'gentle art.' " 



" That 's all very true," added the Doctor, " but it is sometimes pretty 

 discouraging to work hard, day after day, and not kill a fish. I have had 

 such experiences in fishing for striped bass, and I can tell you it takes a 

 lot of patience to stand on the rocks and keep on casting through a whole 

 tide and not have a fish respond." 



" You are right, Doctor," replied the Judge ; " I have had my patience 

 pretty well exhausted with that noble, but uncertain fish, which I regard as 

 the best of the salt-water species." 



The Judge was not alone in his opinion, for of the many varieties of 

 fish which are found along our coast, none is held in greater esteem by 

 the angler than the striped bass. It is generally regarded as the game 

 fish par excellence of our tidal waters, and ranks as high with many 

 devotees of the rod and reel as does the salmon. 



It is distributed more or less abundantly from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 to Georgia : the writer has found it in the Bay des Chaleurs, and has 

 known of its being taken off Cape Breton. At Cape Ann, Mass., it is in 

 some seasons rather plentiful, and a number are captured at Nahant every 

 year. It was formerly quite abundant in the Weymouth river, but is now 

 seldom found in that stream, and it is comparatively rare on the coast from 

 Cohasset to Provincetown, a few small stragglers only being captured every 

 season. 



Around Martha's Vineyard it is rather abundant, and in Buzzard's 

 Bay and Narragansett bay it is one of the favorite species. 



It seems to prefer a rocky coast to any other, and on that account, in 

 many localities, particularly in the States south of New Jersey, it is named 

 the "rock fish." 



