GAY PARTIES ALL ENGAGED. 125 



squids ; another dash, and he hooked himself. I took hold to 

 pull him in hand over hand, but the pull was quite enough 

 for me. Before I landed him another was on my other squid, 

 which my helper landed. Now a whopper fastened to my 

 first hook, and I found him difficult to draw in; he weighed 

 nearly twenty pounds, and was as much as I could manage. 

 The prospect was most gay and enlivening, as the fleet con- 

 sisted of small sail-boats, cat-boats, sloops, schooners, and 

 yachts, over sixty in all, crossing and jibing, while the troll- 

 ers were tugging and hauling at fish, and all seemed to vie 

 with the jollity of the gulls and the fun of the loons, which 

 kept jabbering, with now and then a scream and hurrah, as 

 if they joined in our sport. 



We continued trolling until noon, when the wind died away 

 and we turned our craft homeward. We counted our take, 

 which numbered thirty-six fish, and weighed four hundred and 

 eighty pounds, averaging over thirteen pounds each. Thus 

 ended one of the most interesting, health-giving, and delight- 

 ful days of the season. 



Trolling with sail and row boats in September and October 

 is extensively indulged in by amateurs and professional fish- 

 ermen who fish for a livelihood along the shores from the 

 east end of Massachusetts to Chesapeake Bay ; and as the 

 shoals begin to turn southward in September, the best troll- 

 ing is in October along Long Island and the Jersey shores, 

 after which the angling is good along the coasts of Maryland 

 and Virginia up to December. 



Although the bluefish is sufficiently plucky to take a coarse 

 troll, and few venture to angle for him with ordinary tackle, 

 even with gimp snells, yet, with good bass-tackle and strong 

 hooks, either wound with copper wire on a heavy gimp lead- 

 er or snell, or with a hook fastened with wire to a piano 

 string, capital sport is found at still-baiting for them from a 

 boat anchored along the edge of tideways in the estuaries 

 and near the shores of bays. The coast of Rhode Island, and 



