98 Fisnma IN AMERICAN WATERS, 



taining rapturous sport. Take your bait with you from a 

 New York market, for fear of delay. Caving Channel, a 

 sandy bottom tideway from Communipaw to Jersey City, is 

 said to be a favorite run for small kingfish, where good sport 

 is often realized on the first of the flood. Kingfish feed also 

 at numerous places in the South Bay, and all along the coast 

 of New Jersey. 



To anglers who dwell near the coast, 



The kingfish is a peculiar joy ; 

 And among all the scaly host, 



This they choose as their favorite toy. 



SECTION SIXTH. 



THE HOGFISH. 



This fish is very numerous on the Bahama banks and along 

 the coast of the Southern States, visiting in the spring, which 

 is its spawning season, as far north as the mouth of the Ches- 

 apeake Bay. It is white-meated and very juicy, requiring no 

 butter or lard in cooking, and its peculiar flavor is very rich 

 and creamy, being the best table-fish among anglers' fishes of 

 the South. It ranges in weight from five to fifteen pounds. 

 Its scales are rather large, except on the head, where they are 



THE HOGFISH. 



very small. The first dorsal is spinous-rayed, and all the 

 rays of the other fins are soft. It is marked similar to the 

 perch, with rays or bars of a darker shade than the rest of the 

 fish, which is a reddish-brown. This fish is angled for by 

 still-baiting with shedder or soft-shell crab, and with shank- 



