That same day I had a remarkable experience. 
I had hooked and played out a bass that weighed 
at least 50 pounds. As I attempted to gaff him 
he made a rush and lay belly up about 20 yards 
from the boat. Supposing it was his last effort 
I began to reel him in, but he gave me the sur¬ 
prise of my fishing life. As soon as the line 
became taut he threw his big tail across it and 
cut it like a knife. Another day I was playing 
a bass at the jetties when a shark struck it and 
bit a gob two feet long and one foot deep out 
of the back in the region of the dorsal fin. 
Bass fishing is at the best from the latter half 
of September to the first of January. Sharks 
leave the waters about Charleston near the end 
of September and bait thieves soon after. Octo¬ 
ber, November and December are the best 
months. January and February are good months, 
if not too stormy. My experience is that the 
fish will not bite at any time of the year when 
the wind is strong from any quarter that will 
make a high surf. I have caught bass in a 
high northwest wind, but that cuts the surf down 
almost everywhere along our Atlantic coast. 
The islands on the South Carolina coast, with¬ 
in easy reach of Charleston, beginning south and 
extending north, are Edisto, Seabrooke, Kiawah, 
Folly, Morris, Isle of Palms, Dewees, Capers, 
Bulls. The first named is about 30 miles south 
of Charleston and the last 25 miles north. The 
most accessible is the Isle of Palms, which is 
connected with the city by ferry and trolley car. 
The trolley takes you in sight of Fort Sumter, 
under the walls of historic Fort Moultrie, and 
over the whole length of Sullivan’s Island, 
Charleston’s fashionable seaside summer resort- 
The beaches of all these islands afford good 
fishing. Perhaps more small fish, from 3 to 12 
pounds are to be taken on Capers and Bulls 
than any of the other islands. In November, 
1912, with H. G. Leiding and Wilmot D. Ker¬ 
shaw, of Charleston, I made a trip to those 
islands- In two and a half days’ fishing we 
landed 115 bass, averaging about 8 pounds, be¬ 
sides a number of drum and other fish. I have 
myself caught, and seen caught, more large fish 
on the Isle of Palms than on any of the other 
islands. The largest number of fish taken in 
a day by one rod must also be placed to the 
credit of the Isle of Palms. Early last Decem¬ 
ber Ed. Trotter, one of my companions, landed 
21 bass, from 3 to 11 pounds inside of three 
hours. 
I occupied a cottage on the Isle of Palms last 
winter and my visitors and myself had excel¬ 
lent fishing up to January 1. January and Feb¬ 
ruary were unusually stormy, so the fishing was 
poor, though it was particularly good during 
those months in the previous year. Some fine 
fish were taken directly in front of the cottage. 
One day in October F. C. Hammond landed a 
26-pounder and C. U. Klatte a 27%-pounder 
within two hours. One morning about the mid¬ 
dle of December a party including Bishop Wood¬ 
cock, of Kentucky, and Dr. J. Mercier Green, 
health officer of Charleston, fishing on the beach 
about four miles north of my cottage, landed 
18 bass that weighed from 3 to 12 pounds. At 
the same spot a few days earlier my friend 
Trotter had made the record catch already noted. 
Many other fine catches were made but those 
cited will suffice to show the character of the 
fishing. 
Channel bass (Sciaenops ocellata), in different 
FOREST AND STREAM 
localities, variously called red-drum, red fish, 
bull red fish, are found as far north as New 
York in summer and along the Carolina coast 
both summer and winter. It is not a drum but 
a true bass. In color the adult fish is old gold 
on the back and sides and silvery below. A 
characteristic mark, however, is a purplish black 
spot on each side of the tail. Many individuals 
have more than one spot, not a few several, dis¬ 
tributed horizontally along the base of the tail. 
It is a fine game fish, though not quite so per¬ 
sistent a fighter as its first cousin the striped 
bass. It is also an excellent food fish. 
Wherever there is a slough on the beach with 
an outerlying bar you may reasonably expect 
to find bass. They seem to feed principally upon 
the bars, searching for Crustacea washed out by 
the surf, and the small fish also generally present 
there. I have many a time seen them swimming 
to and fro across the bars. The bars probably 
also afford them a certain amount of protection 
from sharks when those are present. At any 
rate the proper thing to do is to cast your bait 
into the break on the outer edge of the slough. 
The best bait is mullet. I prefer “finger” 
mullet, about the length of the index finger, 
but if those cannot be had larger mullet may 
be cut into chunks or strips. Shrimp make ex¬ 
cellent bait for small bass, but the larger fish 
appear to prefer mullet. Many anglers use two 
hooks and both kinds of bait. The channel 
bass is mostly a bottom feeder, and an occasional 
movement of the bait seems to attract its atten¬ 
tion. In all of my channel bass fishing I have 
had but one strike while reeling in. That was 
a small fish, about two pounds. 
Opinions differ as to tackle. For my own 
part I prefer light tackle. I use a 13 ounce 
greenheart rod, about six feet long from butt 
to tip; a 12 thread line; and a reel large enough 
to carry 300 yards. This line is worn out by 
the sand more speedily than a larger, yet I 
prefer the saving of weight. The end should 
be tested at the beginning of each trip before 
the rigging is attached. My usual rig is a three 
ounce pyramid sinker, and two 7-0 sproat hooks, 
attached to gut snells. In surf fishing you are 
often bothered by undertow, which is sometimes 
so strong that no sinker will hold. My experi¬ 
ence has led me to give up fishing if a three 
ounce sinker will not hold. 
Some years ago I abandoned the use of the 
leader. The channel bass has an extremely hard 
mouth and I found it more difficult to set the 
hook with a leader than with the ordinary snell. 
As a protection against sharks I tried wire snells 
for a while, but after an iron jawed individual 
had bitten off a two ply wire for me, I returned 
to the gut because the gut is much less liable 
to foul the line. I attach the lower hook so 
that it will swing well clear of the sinker and 
the upper hook so that it will be equally clear 
of the lower. With this rig I have often taken 
two small bass at one time. 
The channel base is not always a hard striker. 
Indeed I have known many big fish to take the 
bait gingerly, as if to taste it first, and been 
surprised on an experimental snub by a wild out- 
rush. One day, fishing at the jetties, on attempt¬ 
ing to lift my sinker it seemed to have been 
caught in the rocks, but when I put some strain 
on it, the line went off with a swish. A 28-pound 
bass had taken my bait without the disturbance 
of a nibble. 
725 
The Bungalow and the Beach. 
CHANNEL BASS FISHING. 
Bass fishing is mighty uncertain sport, 
For the game is shy and capricious; 
Quite likely to try the experienced hand, 
And weary the more ambitious: 
But when the mysterious conditions are fit, 
And the fish all eager to bite, 
It will fill with rapture the patient soul, 
And thaw the ice of an anchorite. 
Some pin their faith on the waxing moon, 
While others prefer the waning; 
But the ardent disciple, regardless of luck, 
Angles moonless without complaining: 
Some look for success on the falling tide, 
While others select the rising, 
But the hopeful soul angles every tide, 
With indifference most surprising. 
The novice yearns for a speedy strike, 
Which failing he speaks of the “Sin Oh!” 
And quickly relapsing from high emprise, 
Impatiently goes for the minnow: 
But loving the shock and the song of the reel, 
And despising both minnow and flounder, 
I will patiently angle for days, aye for weeks, 
In the quest of a hundred pounder. 
INDIAN HARBOR STRIPED BASS CLUB. 
More Than 245 Pounds Taken This Season. 
At the recent annual meeting of the Indian 
Harbor Striped Bass Club of Greenwich, Conn., 
the following officers were elected for the ensu¬ 
ing year: 
President, H. Wilbur Paret; Purser, Frank 
Bowne Jones, 29 Broadway, New York; Weigh¬ 
er, John H. Downing; Members of Board of 
Governors, Frederic S. Doremus and D. Grahame 
Smyth. 
The record of striped bass killed by members 
in local waters for the past season was 76 of 
over 15 inches in length, the total weight being 
245.7 pounds; average weight, 3 pounds. 
The prize for the heaviest fish taken during 
the season was won by Mr. C. D. Mallory, 
weight 11 pounds, 14 oz. 
The prize for the greatest weight of fish taken 
