1 8 2 AMERICAN FISHES. 



would be one of the angler's prime favorites. Some of the sportsmen 

 ignore the IMackerel, but Hallock and Scott are broad-minded enough to 

 speak a word in its favor. Hallock says that it affords most excellent 

 sport to the rod and reel. " Bass tackle of the lightest description, with 

 wire gimp snood, is required : caplin, porgy and clams are used for bait, 

 and no float is necessary, and when the fish are biting sharply, the bait 

 will be taken the instant it touches the water." 

 Scott is even more decided in his approval. 



"Hook-fishing for Mackerel," remarks he in his Fishing in American 

 Waters, is very exhilarating sport. A brisk breeze, sky mellowed by fleecy 

 clouds, gulls swooping and screaming, everything in excitement. Under 

 such circumstances and surroundings, it is not strange if the troller, whiff'er 

 or still-baiter should inflate his lungs and feast his soul until the waning 

 sun warns him to desist and retire. Excellent sport is sometimes to be 

 had by rowing or sculling a boat into a thick shoal and trolling for them 

 with feathered squid, or twirling spoon or casting to them a white artifi- 

 cial fly." 



And then — when the Mackerel is caught— trout, bass and sheepshead 

 cannot vanquish him in a gastromonic tournament. In Holland, to be 

 sure, the Mackerel is not prized, and is accused of tasting like rancid 

 fish-oil, and in England, even they are usually lean and dry, like the 

 wretched skeletons which are brought into market in April and May by 

 the southern fleet, which goes forth in the early spring from Massachusetts 

 to intercept the schools as they approach the coasts of Carolina and Vir- 

 ginia. They are not worthy of the name of Mackerel. Scomber is not 

 properly in season until the spawning season is over, the schools begin to 

 feed at the surface in the Gulf of Maine and the " North Bay." 



Just from the water, fat enough to broil in its own drippings, or slightly 

 corned in strong brine, caught at night and eaten in the morning, a 

 ]\Iackerel or a bluefish is unsurpassable. A well-cured autumn Mackerel 

 is perhaps the finest of all salted fish, but in these days of wholesale 

 capture by the purse-seine, hasty dressing and careless handling, it is very 

 difficult to obtain a sweet and sound salt Mackerel. Salt Mackerel may 

 be boiled as well as broiled, and a fresh Mackerel may be cooked in the 

 same manner. Americans will usually prefer to do without the sauce of 

 fennel and gooseberry which transatlantic cooks recommend. Fresh and 

 salt, fat and lean, new or stale. Mackerel are consumed by Americans in 



