With Fish-Lines and Nets 97 



young bluefish, known in the neighborhood as 

 "snappers." Once a week I sail my boat 

 down to the neighborhood of Fire Island, 

 where from June to November we get some 

 good bluefishing, thanks to our "chumming" 

 machines, a device for chopping up bony-fish 

 in appetizing shape. The boat is brought to 

 anchor, the sails furled, and this chopped fish 

 is thrown overboard in small quantities. The 

 bluefish, running in or out with the tide, are 

 attracted by the "chum," and come to feed. 

 The hooks are baited, and thrown overboard 

 along with the chum. If fish are plenty, the 

 piece of chum which hides a hook is sure to be 

 snapped up. When bluefishing is fair in the 

 Great South Bay we can count upon a catch of 

 from twenty to thirty fish, ranging from one to 

 five pounds. But bluefishing is an uncertain 

 sport. I find from my diary that out of twenty 

 trips to Fire Island, eleven produced nothing, 

 except that each trip gave us ten or twelve 

 hours of glorious sailing. An advantage of 

 this bay for sailing over any other that I know 

 of is that if rough weather comes on the little 

 craft can take shelter at any of the many 



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