CHAPTER V

THE STREAK ON THE WATER


The Navy boys arrived at the patch of shallow water over the Blue Reef
at about noon. By that time the fog was pretty well dissipated, and they
had a clear view of miles and miles of sea as well as of the coastline
behind them and the narrow entrance to the cove.

The submarine chaser was out of sight. No other craft appeared upon the
open sea beyond the _Sue Bridger's_ present anchorage. The boys threw
out a little chum, and then dropped their hooks.

"First nibble!" whispered Torry. "Now watch me play him."

But the first few "nibbles" proved to be merely "hook-cleaners." The
fish got the bait, and the boys had the exercise of swishing their lines
in and out of the water.

Channel bass run to large sizes. Torry told about seeing one hung up on
the dock at Seacove weighing sixty-four and a quarter pounds.

"That's all right," grumbled Frenchy, who had just lost a nibbler, "but
a two-pound one will satisfy me. What would we do with a
sixty-four-pound bass?"