310 SPANISH MACKEREL. 



pearance of blood is the attraction about them. 

 Lighter tackle than is in vogue for blue-fish is pre- 

 ferable, and if the fisherman is careful and judi- 

 cious, he should use gut lengths above the hook for 

 two or three feet. 



Schools of Spanish mackerel may be distinguished 

 from those of kindred varieties by their method of 

 leaping from the water. They do not come out 

 with a slap as the blue-fish or moss-bunkers, or with 

 the short and sudden jump of the trout, but spring- 

 ing with a long vault they "throw a glittering 

 curve aloft " in a graceful sweep. They make the 

 fabled arch of the -poet which is attributed to many 

 fish, but is seen only with these and the tarpon of 

 Florida. They are rapid swimmers and brave 

 fighters, and must be handled gingerly where light 

 tackle is used. 



Spanish mackerel have for some reason diminished 

 of late years on the coasts of the Atlantic States. 

 Not only are they less freely captured by the nets, 

 but they never collect in the enormous numbers 

 which were at one time common. This diminution 

 is exceedingly unfortunate, and every possible effort 

 should be made by fish-culture and otherwise to 

 bring them back. At one time hundreds of miles 

 square of them could be seen almost any day along 

 the southern shore of Long Island, and a fishery at 

 Orient, the northerly spur of Gardner's Bay, was 

 very successful. Now no such schools are ever met 

 with on the south side, and it has been proposed to 

 abandon the fishery at Orient. The innumerable 



