200 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, 



along the New Jersey Coast is " Goody." It is known at 

 Lewes, Delaware, where it sometimes appears in great num- 

 bers, as tlie " Spot," from the mark near the gill-cover. It 

 frequently happens that its annual visits are almost, or 

 totally suspended for a season or two. Like all emigrants 

 from the southern part of our coast, it is more abundant 

 during some summers than others. 



From the description received from Southern friends, of the 

 " Pigfish" or " Hogfish," so renowned in the lower waters of 

 the Chesapeake for its flavor, and its grunting or croaking 

 noise when caught, it is doubtless the same. 



Few salt-water anglers fish for them as a matter of choice, 

 preferring the larger and less edible fish, for their size, as 

 they give more sport; while the little Goodies frequently 

 linger around and nibble off one's bait, when the Weakfish 

 or Barb cease biting. At such time it is well to be provided 

 with small perch-hooks, which can be substituted for the 

 larger, and tied on, one a foot and the other two feet above 

 the sinker (a half- ounce bullet), and baited with small mites 

 of fish or soft crab, and the float dispensed with. If they are 

 frightened away by the reappearance of larger fish, they will 

 return as soon as the school passes on, and bite as freely as 

 before. In angling for Weakfish, I have often made a profit- 

 able operation by thus changing my hooks, catching dozens 

 of these delicious little fellows expressly for the pan. For 

 richness and flavor, no pan-fish surpass them. The hooks 

 should not be larger than No. 2 or 3 Kirby ; the long-shanked 

 or what is called " weak-trout hooks" are best. They strike 

 hard, pull vigorously, and bend the rod well, for fish of such 

 small dimensions. They are often taken in company with 

 small Porgies and with the same tackle. They are frequently 

 found in July and August, on the flats between the hotel at 

 Long Beach and Tuckerton, New Jersey. 



