Popular Bottom Sea Fish 



known in various places as blackfish, tautog, 

 chub, moll, Will gorge, and oyster fish. East of 

 New York it is usually called tautog, 

 Names 5 a name gi yen to it by the Narragansett 

 Indians. As may be inferred from its 

 haunts and the character of its strong, sharp 

 teeth, the tautog's food consists of hard-shelled 

 mollusks, squids, scallops, barnacles, and sand 

 dollars; many of the mollusks they swallow, shells 

 and all, ejecting the hard parts after the flesh has 

 been digested. Angling from the rocks for the 

 tautog is a favorite pursuit all along 

 Caught ^e coast particularly about New York, 

 where there are precipitous shores, on 

 which the fishermen stand. On Long Island Sound 

 and other protected waters they are usually fished 

 for from boats anchored among the reefs, or near 

 wrecked vessels, and shell-covered piles and 

 wharfs; rocky bottoms are very good places. 

 At some places they bite best on the flood tide: 

 in others they are voracious during the ebb tide. 

 Some anglers bait for them by throwing overboard 

 broken clams or crabs to induce them to re- 

 new their visit. In April and May we have the 

 best angling; though they frequent local waters 

 all through the summer, not many are caught 

 in the hot months until fishing begins again in 

 October and November. The best bait 

 pfshing * n *b e spring is the clam, preferably soft- 

 shell clam, for at this time, many anglers 

 say, the tautog has a tender mouth. In the fall, 

 both lobsters and crabs, as well as fiddler and 

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