CHAPTER XXIX 
BAIT AND GROUNDS 
To the sea-angler the bait and often the 
bait-catcher is an important factor to be con- 
sidered, especially in Southern seas, on the great 
reef which reaches out from Cape Florida and 
trends to the west as though determined in ages 
to come to enclose the Gulf of Mexico and make 
it an inland sea. The bait-taker is an interest- 
ing personage, and the collection of bait, at least 
on the reef, a fascinating pastime. Paublo, his 
naked black shoulders half covered by the cast- 
net slung over them, the heavy sinkers or 
weights — leaden beads —clanging as he strode 
along the shore, his keen eyes on the watch 
for mullets, was a most picturesque figure. The 
newcomer would wonder who or what he was, 
as in one hand he bore a huge cimeter-like 
object with a cloth‘bound about the end as a 
handle. With the cast-net he took mullets, — 
bait for barracuda, jack, and amber-jack. With 
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