The Rod and Reel on Salt Water. 
II.—The Striped Bass—Its Haunts, Habits and 
Method of Capture. 
The striped bass is as old as American history. 
The earliest settlers took prompt notice of its 
merits and vaunted its praises in no uncertain 
strain. John Smith, of Pocahontas fame, was 
perhaps more lavish in its praise than any of 
Strange as it may seem, the striped bass does 
not belong to the family of basses, but is a mem¬ 
ber of the perch family, and has many of the 
characteristics of the different varieties of that 
numerous family in his makeup. Strongly no¬ 
madic in habits, to-day he is on one body of 
water feeding on a particular variety of food 
to be found there, which may be to his liking, 
to-morrow he is somewhere else, but under all 
circumstances he is very resourceful and fully 
when it is properly presented is too well au¬ 
thenticated to need any confirming details here, 
and that he is the peer of the lake trout or sal¬ 
mon when hooked is not to be gainsaid. 
The Atlantic coast range of the striped bass 
is not as great as has been thought by many. 
He rarely goes below the Carolinas, although 
stragglers have been taken below that point. 
Few appear to enter the gulf of Mexico. To 
the north the coast of New Brunswick seems to 
THE PATIENT ANGLER’S REWARD 1 . 
One of A. J. Young’s composite photographs, in which a small bass is made to assume huge proportions. 
the early writers, characterizing in his quaint 
style the goodliness of this fish, whose flesh he 
said was nicer than the Mary-bones (marrow 
bones) of the beef, and giving the most extrava¬ 
gant account of its abundance ifi the coast and 
tidal waters of Virginia. 
What latter day writers lack in description of 
its abundance is fully made up in glowing ac¬ 
counts of its beauty and its magnificent qualities 
as a game fish. 
Like many of our most important coast fishes, 
the striped bass is known by many names, and 
it is to be deplored that our fish nomenclature 
is so strangely confusing. Striped bass, rock- 
fish, greenhead and numerous other titles are be¬ 
stowed upon this, the king of game fishes of 
the middle Atlantic coast. 
equal to the many emergencies which he may be 
called upon to confront. 
Perhaps the most serious charge which may 
be brought against him is his extreme fondness 
for the spawn of other fishes. Following the 
shad and other migrants from the sea to the 
sources of rivers and other spawning grounds, 
he regales himself upon the fresh ova, a reck¬ 
less, yet cherished cannibal. 
In pursuit of his favorite food, he enters 
waters where his presence is but little suspected 
by people who have not made his habits a study, 
often being met with in little stretches and pools 
far above brackish waters, where, by anglers of 
experience, he may be taken with the artificial 
fly in the quiet twilight or just at the break of 
day. That the striped bass will rise to the fly 
be about the limit of their range, and they are 
not abundant there. From the Chesapeake north 
to and along the Massachusetts coast they are to 
be met with in their greatest abundance and are 
ever the object of eager pursuit by anglers. Per¬ 
haps the most famous ground for inland striped 
bass fishing is at Port Deposit, Maryland. There 
they are taken with a trolling spoon and a gang 
of two hooks with trailing blood worms. The 
hooks are fastened one above the other about 
three inches apart on a stout gut snell, are about 
5/0 in size and handforged O’Shaughnessy. 
The angler, seated in the stern, with the boat¬ 
man keeping the boat in just sufficient motion 
to keep the line well out, must be alert to the 
first intimation of the strike, which, when it 
comes, is second to nothing produced by a fish. 
