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suflScient quanities. Hooks are manufactured expressly 

 for this fishing with a round head, they are fastened to 

 the line with two half hitches, the end again hitched 

 above so as to take the friction; and as they are carried off 

 by the first big blue fish or in the Yankee vernacular 

 horse-mackerel, that takes a fancy to the bait the angler 

 must be well supplied. 



The friction is so great in casting, that the thumb must 

 be protected by a thumb stall or " cot," as fishermen call it, 

 or better yet, one for each thumb, so that you can cast 

 from either side, and snub the fish with either hand. 

 They are made of chamois, leather, India rubber, or some 

 equivalent material, and in casting by hand, a similar 

 protection is required- for the forefinger. A shoemaker's 

 knife is admirably adapted to cutting bait, and the best tool 

 is desirable, as cutting up menhaden bait is about as dirty, 

 disagreeable and tedious an operation as can be imagined. 

 The angler should always have an assistant for the pur- 

 pose, or he will get his hands, his rod, and his clothes in a 

 condition of oil, blood and fish scales, that no cleaning 

 will wholly remove, and his person will smell " ancient 

 and fish-like " for weeks. 



Bass fishermen will boast that they never allow their 

 lines to over run, but listeners should make allowances 

 for sportsmen's stories. We all like to believe that we can 

 shoot and fish as well as the best or a little better, and 

 ambition to excel is laudable. The truth is, there never 

 was a fisherman yet whose line did not sometimes over- 

 run and foul. This occurrence is the drawback to the 

 sport, and there seems to be no way of preventing it. 

 The pressure to be applied to the reel depends upon so 

 many considerations, the force and direction of the 

 wind, the power applied to the cast, the speed of the 

 bait which dimiuighes as it progresses, and the quality of 



