124 We Go A-Fishing 



times washes into the bay, rolling over the 

 sand-bar, but the agitation of the water in the 

 bay is not sufficient to cause the sand to shift. 

 We have still a depth of from four to seven 

 feet right up to the end of the bay, with long 

 stretches of shallow flats, sometimes covered 

 with grass, in which the ducks take shelter and 

 feed in winter. These flats extend along the 

 sand-bar from one to two miles into the bay, 

 and any one who has sailed for a summer or 

 two in the bay learns pretty well how to keep 

 clear of them by the looks of the water. Along 

 the main shore there is plenty of water for from 

 two to three miles out from the shore, and this 

 makes the bay a superb sailing-place for small 

 boats. As for the fishing part, it has grown 

 less and less, until to-day it is not what might 

 be called a good fishing-ground, except within 

 a few miles of Fire Island inlet, where the 

 bluefish still run in the right season. Perhaps 

 the number of fishermen has had something to 

 do with the scarcity of fish. The fame of Fire 

 Island inlet has spread so far among lovers of 

 bluefish that not a day passes from late June 

 until late September when there cannot be 



