STRIPED BASS. 207 



man would be aware of his proceedings. A man, by- 

 fishing on the bottom, although justified by a philosophy 

 which establishes the fact that bass ought to look for 

 crabs there, and not dangling about in mid-water, will 

 surely catch three eels to one bass. The truth is, crabs 

 are not found on the bottom in such places, generally 

 strong foaming currents, which they never frequent un- 

 less carried away by the force of the water, and soft 

 crabs are by their natural enemies, and many other 

 causes, often torn into pieces and borne about by the 

 tide. 



The bait should be kept in continual motion : this is 

 the first law of all bait fishing. It is done by twitching 

 the rod, and induces the fish to seize the prey, which they 

 imagine is about to escape. I have seen them time and 

 again dart at a bait when in motion, thaf they had 

 smelt round contemptuously when still. Crab is uni- 

 versally regarded as the preeminent bass bait in Summer, 

 although its reputation is disputed by that wonderful 

 production of the sea, the squid. This horrible monster, of 

 which sailors tell such astounding stories, has illuminated 

 the tales of olden time, and been a pet forecastle yarn 

 with ancient and modern mariners. There are accounts 

 of ships seized by its arms, that reached to the mast- 

 heads, and sunk or only saved by prayers to the Virgin 

 Mary and the vigorous use of axes on its many muscular 

 and boneless limbs ; of grateful mariners presenting pic- 

 tures of the dreadful encounter to the shrine of Our 

 Lady ; of huge pieces of the arms of this fish, indicating 

 that they must have been sixty or more feet long, found 

 in the maw of the whale, whose food they are ; and hor- 



