Bass, Pike, Perch, and OthersHenshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Science
Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others
Henshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Fishes; Fishing
The fishing may be done from any convenient place near a pass or inlet
on the flood tide. A sand-spit at the entrance, or a boat anchored just
within the inlet, are desirable places, though good fishing is sometimes
available from the end of a pier in a tideway. Fine fishing may also be
had at other stages of the tide about offshore reefs and shoals. I have
taken the lady-fish, with both fly and bait, in Biscayne Bay, in Cards
and Barnes sounds, along the keys to Key West, and at nearly every inlet
on the Gulf coast, as far north as Pass-a-Grille, above Tampa Bay, and
usually found it associated with the ten-pounder.
The lady-fish, when hooked, will probably astonish the angler who is
attached to one for the first time, by its aërial gyrations and quick
movements. But the rod must be held at an angle of forty-five degrees,
so as to maintain a taut line, notwithstanding its constant leaping; for
if any slack line is given, it is almost sure to shake out the hook. And
as the leaps are made in such quick succession, the only safe plan is to
keep the rod bent, either in giving or taking line, or when holding the
fish on the strain of the rod.
The lady-fish will often take a gaudy black-bass fly, in which event a
black-bass fly-rod or a heavy trout fly-rod will come handy, with
corresponding tackle. A heavy braided linen line, size D, is better
suited for salt water than the enamelled silk line, and will cast a fly
nearly as well. The flies advised for the Spanish mackerel will answer
as well for the lady-fish, though I have found the silver-doctor and
coachman both very taking toward dusk, which is the most favorable time
for fly-fishing, though the first half of the flood tide and the last
half of the ebb are usually both favorable times about the inlets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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