414 THE BAEB, OR KING FISH, 



save that of hooking a little fish, which rarely exceeds two 

 pounds in weight, with a bottom bait and strong ground tackle, 

 than to hook a twenty-pound Salmon with a fly on the surface, 

 and to play him for an hour before he can be gaffed. 



The one sport requires luck and patience, — the other skill, 

 hardihood, endurance, courage, long experience, quick eye, 

 stout heart, fleet foot, and ready hand. How, then, shall these 

 sports be compared ? 



I do not desire, however, to discredit the King Fish ; nor 

 does he in anywise deserve it, as, both for durante vita and 

 post-mortem excellence, he deserves all honour. 



He is to be caught most easily with the rod and tackle before 

 described, under the head of the Squeteaque, or Weak Fish, 

 except that a smaller hook should be used, the mouth of the 

 King Fish being small. The best bait is the shedder-crab. 



In the former portion of this work, devoted to the consideration 

 of the natural history of fishes, I have quoted an anecdote, pub- 

 lished in the New York Commercial Advertiser, of July 6, 1827, 

 recording the capture oifour hundred and twenty -two King Fish, 

 by a boy and a man, in the space of six hours, in Jamaica bay, 

 off Rockaway ; and I find it stated in the " American Angler's 

 Guide," that twenty or thirty are often taken in a single tide. 



The first feat is unsurpassed, and probably never will be 

 equalled; the second is of most rare occurrence, so much so 

 that now-a-days the angler justly holds himself favoured by the 

 marine deities, who kills his half-dozen King Fish in a day. 



All this, however, may be changed at any moment ; for the 

 comings and goings of all migratory animals are more or less — 

 and those of migratory fishes most — irregular. 



