24 Big Game Fishes 
same moment. One rushed ahead, the other 
darted astern, and we were at once involved ina 
most spirited tug of war, which resulted in the 
loss of one fish. At one time twenty or thirty 
small boats were fishing, and sometimes half of 
these would have bass hooked at the same time; 
the scene as the big fish towed the boats about, 
the cries and shouts as lines were parted or rods 
succumbed, being a most animated one. I recall 
one rush of a bass hooked by a lady, which towed 
the boat almost entirely across the bay before 
the fish could be checked, the game later tip- 
ping the scale at eighty pounds. 
The large bass I took in the little shallow bay 
was caught with much lighter tackle than gener- 
ally used, the line being a number fifteen cutty- 
hunk, which I commend, as the fish, with proper 
care, can be caught with even a smaller line, if 
in moderately shallow water. The only draw- 
back to very light lines is the fact that the sulk-. 
ing fish must be lifted at times, when a little 
carelessness will break the line. Better lose all 
than to slay so gamy a creature with a hand-line 
or anything larger than a twenty-one-thread line. 
In the matter of rods, a seven- or eight-foot rod 
weighing from fifteen to eighteen ounces, of split 
