286 BLUE-FISHING. 



the year, and as soon as we reached our destination 

 "vve cast anchor and went to fishing. 



Seth Green and the Commissioner each rigged up 

 his line, and no doubt the amount of skill, erudi- 

 tion, research and experience involved in that opera- 

 tion would be hard to describe. Catching a surrep- 

 titious view of Mr. Green's rig-out, I found he had 

 a silk worm gut leader armed with seven hooks, 

 while the Commissioner had fastened his hooks by 

 short lengths to his line above the sinker, half way 

 to the tip of his rod. It is needless to say that 

 against such skill the fish stood no chance. There 

 was a pound-net within a stone's throw, and I com- 

 miserated its incapacity beside these formidable en- 

 gines. Not satisfied, however, the Superintendent 

 arranged a wire bag, filled it with bait that the fish 

 could not get at, and hung it over the side to at- 

 tract them. Up came the fish by ones, by twos, by 

 threes, at every cast, of all kinds, large and small. 

 The yacht's deck was covered with fish. Pish flop- 

 ped and sparkled in the sun; fish bounced about 

 the cockpit, fish got under your feet; fish hid away 

 in the cabin. Baskets and boxes were filled with 

 fish, and had it not been for an interruption the Au 

 Eevoir would have been loaded down with fish. 



While these two enthusiastic piscatorial artists 

 were hard at it, with no signs of giving up, a styl- 

 ish-looking craft sailed by. It had a signal on 

 which was the suggestive figure of a fish, and be- 

 neath that the word " Bait," and the Commissioner 

 recognizing it at once as the " chum-boat," shouted 



