108 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



Chowder should remain over the fire nearly two hours. This 

 chowder has the merit of being simple, and to a hungry 

 sportsman it is palatable, though not so epicurean as the 

 chowder made by the late Daniel Webster, the receipt for 

 which is given on another page. 



Chowder - parties and clam -bakes are American institu- 

 tions, and they are indulged in annually in July and August, 

 throughout the whole length of the coasts of New York and 

 New England. 



In a commercial point of view, the sea bass ranks with the 

 tautog, and next to the cod, being consumed annually to the 

 number of -millions. 



For capture with rod and reel the common striped bass- 

 tackle is used. I have taken hundreds of small ones in a day 

 while angling for sheepshead. They take with equal voraci- 

 ty shrimp, clam, and shedder crab. A shoal of a single pair 

 of fish number probably five thousand which attain to the 

 weight of half a pound and over ; not more, because ground- 

 sharks and other marine carnivora thin their ranks when fin - 

 gerlings. Their feeding-time is during the lull of the waters, 

 between the turn of the tides, when they yield themselves 

 willing victims to the angler's captivating art. They weigh 

 from half a pound to five pounds, and some shoals run from 

 eight to fifteen pounds. As one of our common food fishes, 

 it is a shade more respectable than most of those which have 

 by quality and status been consigned to the hand-line multi- 

 tude. 



THE POEGEE. 



This fish runs from a quarter to three pounds in weight, 

 and unites with the blackfish (tautog) and bergall (cachogset) 

 to form the guerrilla army of thieves for robbing bait when 

 the angler, with hooks too large for its mouth, is fishing for 

 larger game. Its mouth is armed with pin-point teeth like 

 those of the perch, and while it can not bite in two a single 

 o'ut snell or thin linen line, is most dexterous in robbing bass 



