448 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



would be glorious, and several New York anglers so equipped 

 have enjoyed it this winter. 



" Besides the bass, we caught at the Indian River Inlet 

 the black snapper. Resembles in form the tautog, and be- 

 longs, I think, to the Wrasse family ; large mouth, strong 

 teeth, bites eagerly at mullet, and pulls hard ; is silvery in 

 color when first taken, then turns red, and afterward black : 

 a rich and savory fish four to sixteen pounds. 



"Cavallo. This fish is in form between a dolphin and a 

 mackerel; has the brilliant hues of the former; very active; 

 a surface fish, going in schools ; takes a red rag or spoon as 

 well as mullet bait from two to fifteen pounds; in taste 

 like the mackerel. 



"Sargent Fish. A rapacious fish, in form like the pike- 

 perch, with underhung jaw like the pickerel; silvery sides, 

 with a black stripe from gill to tail, whence its local name ; 

 lies under the mangrove bushes for prey weight, from two 

 to twenty pounds. 



" Croaker. In form like sheepshead, but not so thick ; col- 

 or, silvery ; bites eagerly, and pulls hard. A good fish for 

 the table. 



"Of the following we heard, but did not catch them: 

 drum, hogfish, bluefish, from six to fifteen pounds same as 

 the Northern fish of the name; Spanish mackerel, two to six- 

 teen pounds; Jewfish, twenty to one hundred pounds; bezu- 

 ga, said to be the best fish in these waters except the pom- 

 pano weight, one-half to one pound. 



"Pompano resembles the cavallo in form; does not take 

 the hook; is always taken in a net by night; best fish in 

 Southern waters ; bones boil soft. 



"We found in the St. Johns River the 'black trout,' as 

 they call it, but which is almost identical with the black 

 bass of the North-west. It grows to the weight of twelve 

 pounds, and is very plenty in that river, so that we caught 

 numbers of them by trolling with a spoon from a small 

 steamer, with one hundred yards of line. Game in this re- 



