FISHES OF THE E.4ST ATLANTIC COAST. Ill 



considers tliat from its abundance, its free biting, and its method of 

 fair lighting when hooked, the red bass is on the whole the most 

 valuable of the Southern game fishes. 



Twenty-five to thirty red bass have been killed by one rod in a 

 da-y on the Halifax River, weighing in the aggregate some 200 to 

 350 pounds., The largest bass ever taken by the writer weighed thir- 

 ty-seven pounds, and the struggle lasted about forty minutes. It 

 was taken from a boat, and the fish towed us nearly a hundred yards 

 before it came to gaff. Its mate, weighing over twenty-five pounds, 

 was soon after taken by my boatman. The next in size captured by 

 me weighed thirtj^ pounds, and its mate, weighing twenty-eight 

 pounds, was hooked directly after by my companion in the boat, 

 also a rod fisher, and the contest went on for thirty or forty min- 

 utes at each end of the boat. The mouth of the red bass is tough, 

 requiring a smart stroke to fasten the hook, but once fastened the 

 hold seldom gives way. I have never fished in Florida waters iu 

 summer, when the bass run largest, but the hand-line fishermen of 

 those parts tell of catching them at that season not unfrequently of 

 the weight of fifty pounds. 



- At the Indian River Inlet bass and all other fish of these waters 

 are found in great abundance, and of larger size than we find them 

 in Halifax Inlet. In the year 18V0, while fishing in the Indian River 

 we found the fish so plenty that we turned loose four-fifths of our 

 catch, the other fifth amply supplying our wants. 



In April and May, when the sea water is warm on the beach, I 

 have found pleasant sport in wading out into the surf, or near it, 

 and casting my mullet bait into a depression or slough which runs 

 along the shore just inside the surf. Here the bass come in to feed 

 at certain times of tide, and I found that they would make a harder 

 ti'i-ht than in the river inside the inlet, though of about the same size, 

 from four to six pounds. Sharks are plenty in the surf, but do not 

 often come into the sloughs, for fear of being left high and dry, so 

 that one can safely enjoy the combined pleasure of angling and 

 bathino-. There are some old wrecks of vessels imbedded in the 

 sand on this shore ; the tides have washed out deep holes about 

 these wrecks, where bass, sheepshead and trout are found. 



B.mds of roving hogs live on the beach and in the adjoining 



