FISHES or THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



105 



four winters in Florida; it is light and handy, costs only four or five 

 dollars, and will last as long and kill as many and as big fish, as a 

 rod costing twenty-five dollars. Other necessary tools are a landing 

 net for sheepshead and small bass, and a large gaff hook with a 

 handle four or five feet long. A pocket revolver for shooting sharks 

 and big rays, I have seen used in a boat. 



As most of the fishing is done from a boat in shallow water, a 

 light flat bottomed skiff ten or twelve feet long and from two and 

 a-half to three feet wide, is most convenient. 



Fbr rod-fishing, one angler is enough in a boat, the stern "being 

 the only comfortable place to fish from. Of hand-line fishermen 

 three or four could be accommodated in the same space. The most 

 essential thing of all, is to have a boatman who is handy with a cast- 

 ing net. for on this depends your supply of mullet bait. Your boat 

 should be anchored at bow and stern, so as to hold her in position 

 against wind and tide ; a few feet one way or the other often makes 

 great difference in the catch. 



I extract from my journal, kept for ten years in Florida, the fol- 

 lowing record of my catch of different kinds of fish. In some seasons 

 one kind may be scarce, in the next it may be plenty. These years 

 show about the average. 



1870. 



NUMBER. W'OHT. 



Sheepshead. . ..Jog 436 lbs 



Red Bass 40 202 " 



Salt water trout 6 24 " 



Snappers 6 18 " 



Cavalli 6 22 " 



Groupers 7 28 " 



Catfish 24 120 " 



Sharks and 



Rays ,. 5 150 " 



Total 213 1006 " 



Taken in 27 days with 

 hand line, 



1876. 



NUMBER. W'GHT. 



Sheepshead. ... go 340 lbs 



Red Bass 60 311" 



Gronpers g 37 " 



Snappers 7 22 " 



Salt water trout 15 44" 



Pigfish 44 41 " 



Whiting g8 56" 



Black fish .... 125 60" 



Cavalli 4 15 " 



Sailor'sChoice 187 71" 

 Rays, Sharks, 



Catfish, &c. 40 342 " 



Total 679 1.339 " 



Taken in 37 days with rod 

 and reel. 



1881. 



NUMBER. W'GHT. 



Sheepshead... 37 iSslbs 



Red Bass 25 128 " 



Groupers 5 21 " 



Snappers 5 16 " 



Cavalli 6 22 " 



Lady fish 4 10 " 



Salt water trout 8 33 " 

 Black fish and 



Bluefish 25 18 " 



Whiting 32 19 " 



Catfish 62 305 '* 



Sharks and 



Rays 3 105 " 



Total 213 862 " 



Taken in 21 days with rod 

 and reel. 



In writing of the fishes of the Southern coast, we at once meet 



18] 



