Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/749

FISHING. waters. The largest catfish have been known to weigh over 150 pounds, although the flesh of the smaller kinds is the most rich, and more generally considered a delicacy. They are greedy biters and will jump at most anything. For instance, the ordinary bullheads of New England are caught on muddy bottoms with worms as bait. The premier game fish, however, is the black bass, which is plentiful in the lakes and streams east of the Rocky Mountains. It may be caught with minnows, frogs, grasshoppers, etc., or by trolling with a spoon hook. The fishing-rods required for this fish are usually about ten feet long and considerably stouter than those used for trout. The sucker is a fish found in all the fresh waters of the Northern States, it is usually caught with angleworm bait, and in the winter, fishing through the ice, it is more easily caught than any other. The carp is a comparatively recent importation from Europe, and is now found in most of the Eastern waters, as well as in California and Oregon. It haunts muddy waters. The chub, honeyhead, or river-chub is widely distributed in fresh waters, and may easily be caught by means of the same rod and tackle that is used for black bass. The grayling affords exceptionally fine sport. It is generally caught with the fly, but will also bite at worms and insects, and is found along the northern border of the United States. The true salmon is caught chiefly in Canadian rivers, as well as in the Penobscot River of Maine. The best time for sport ranges from about the middle of May to the end of July, covering a period when the fish is on its annual pilgrimage from the sea to deposit its spawn or eggs in fresh water. The newly hatched fish are known as pinks, and in their second year as smolts, and in their third year as grilse. Artificial flies are the bait commonly used. Trout, second only to salmon in their gameness, are also sea emigrants, whenever it is possible for them to be so. They are usually found to best advantage in clear streams and lakes, and angleworms, artificial flies, and minnows are used for their capture. In the rivers and lakes of Maine and Canada speckled trout of from four to six pounds are frequently seen, and specimens have been caught weighing nearly ten pounds. The lake trout is easily caught by trolling, using a minnow or spoon as bait. Whitefish is one of the best food-fishes, and is usually caught in ‘pound-nets’ from 500 to 1000 feet long. Eels are best caught at night, along muddy bottoms, the salt-water variety being frequently captured in eel-pot traps.

. The blue perch, nibbler, chogset, salt-water perch, or burgall, names frequently applied to the cunner, is found in great abundance along the coast. It is easily caught with but light, tackle and almost any kind of bait, although clam bait seems to have a special attraction for them. Precedence must be given to the striped bass, or, as it is sometimes called, rock bass, which may be counted the best game fish in the United States. It is a sea-fish, but spawns in tidal rivers, and will often make its way up fresh-water streams in its search for food. Its weight ranges from 8 to 75 pounds, and the bait required may consist of anything from a piece of cotton to a small fish. (See .) It is sometimes caught with the artificial fly, and again a line baited with small fish

thrown into the surf as in fly-casting will be successful. The minnow is the best bait for trolling. The strength of the fish, together with its weight, demands an exceptionally expert fisherman for its capture. It is very strong, very cunning, and very game, making long and fierce runs, severely taxing the skill and strength of the fisherman before it is finally subdued and captured. The blackfish, or sea bass, is found some little distance from the shore along the coast of the Northern States. It is caught with a special tackle similar to that used for cunners, although the former is also frequently caught with lobster bait, or in sea nets. Both these varieties are good food-fishes. One of the most common fishes in the South is the sea-chub, frequently called the Lafayette, owing to the fact that it was found in special abundance in 1824, the year of General Lafayette's visit to this country. The fish most common to all the coasts of the United States in the last half of the year is the weakfish, which, in the South, is occasionally mistaken for the trout, owing to the similarity in flavor of the two fishes. With this fish, also, the clam is the most attractive bait, and the best time for catching is usually during flood tide. It varies in weight from six ounces to over seven pounds, occasional specimens having been caught weighing over 26 pounds. The fish has a large mouth and very soft jaws, and is caught with much the same tackle as is used for black bass, the principal feature being a large hook made of fine steel. Its peculiarity as a food-fish lies in the fact that it must of necessity be eaten almost immediately after capture or its flesh will become soft. The sheepshead, a Southern fish weighing about eight pounds, is an exceptionally hard fish to secure, but is of correspondingly rare delicacy as a food-fish, and is one much valued by epicures. The scup, known in some parts as the porgie, or paugie, is found more particularly along the Atlantic coast. An- other gamy fish is the (q.v.), also known as the skopjack, horse-mackerel, or snapper. Snappers are found in this part of the world anywhere on the American coast between Massachusetts and Brazil. They are best caught with a squid trolled from a sailboat, and occasionally from a line thrown out from shore. If they are running in ‘schools,’ the fishermen take them in great abundance with their trolling-lines. A peculiarity about them is that they keep near the surface and will snap at any living thing in sight. Like the weakfish, they suffer in value for eating purposes if kept very long before cooking. A smaller kind of bluefish is caught along the New England shore with a light tackle and a minnow bait. Along the north coast of New Jersey the smelt is caught in large seines; they spawn under much the same conditions as the salmon. The umbrella tackle used in the State of Maine is a very peculiar as well as effective method of catching the smelt. The umbrella frame is attached to the end of a fish-pole and hanging from the end of each rib is a short line and hook. Mackerel afford excellent sport, and may be fished for with hooks baited with small pieces of mackerel flesh or skin, although they are more generally taken in seines. The herring is the most common victim of commercial fishing, but it may also be caught by the individual fisherman in the springtime of the year with an