310 AMERICAN FISHES. 



SHOAL-WATER SEA FISHING. 



THIS sport, which is pursued with great eagerness by many of our 

 city anglers, has for its scene the various channels, bays, shoals, reefs 

 and mud-flats of our harbors, the great land-locked lagoons along our 

 coasts, and many places in the East river, and Long Island, as well as 

 in the estuaries of all the larger rivers from the capes of the Chesa- 

 peake to Massachusetts Bay. 



It is pursued in boats, which are rowed from spot to spot, and 

 anchored over the various reefs and shoals, or in the vicinity of sunken 

 reefs, about which these fish are supposed to abound, according to the 

 state and variation of the tides. The fish usually taken are the Sque- 

 teague or Weak- Fish, the Barb, or King-Fish, the Tautog or Black- 

 Fish, the Striped Bass, the Sea Bass occasionally, the Sheep's-Head, 

 the Big Porgee, and sometimes the Drum. 



For the Sea Bass, however, and the Porgee, longer excursions are 

 generally necessary, as the best fishing for these is on the outer sea- 

 banks, in the Atlantic, whither steamers and sloops occasionally pro- 

 ceed with companies for a day's amusement. In these, however, there 

 is most frequently more fun than fishing, although sometimes very 

 good sport is had, and greater quantities of fish taken. 



For Sheep's-Head, again, boats are generally fitted out expressly, as 

 this large powerful fish and heavy biter requires stronger tackle than 

 is needed in the capture of any of the other species. 



The ordinary booty, therefore, of the shoal-water sea angler, is con- 

 fined, nine times out of ten, to the Weak-Fish, the King-Fish, the Stri- 

 ped Bass, and sometimes the Black-Fish, although this latter differs 

 somewhat from the others in his accustomed haunts ; and for these, 

 all of which may be taken with the same tackle, and nearly with the 

 same baits, he constantly goes prepared. 



The best localities for this sport are so numerous, and so well known 



