Hi Moses -
Glad you like the Graves Point Fishing Club photo - it's pretty amazing, I never get tired of looking at it - hey, we can all dream can't we. Not bad for a morning's fishing
It's even more amazing when you think about what they were using for equipment - yeah, they were using conventionals, but the drag system was just a leather thumb stall and the line was twisted Cuttyhunk thread.
Old George Tew there (the Baiter) was the guy who did everything but land the fish for them (Whipple and French were "summer residents" and more than likely belonged to the Cuttyhunk Club as well), he probably chummed them up using lobsters and pogies.
I've been doing research on Daniel Fearing, the guy who wrote the comments on the catch and it turns out he was mayor of Newport in 1894, but lived here his whole life. He was one of the well to do Avenue set but was an avid collector of anything to do with angling - the guy was a 19th century bass hound as it turns out.
Just thought you might enjoy a little history behind the photo - we've got some others we're working on now, I'll post 'em for ya when they're ready.
Threaded Mode