Bait Angling for Common Fishes 



time continually nosing about the loose 

 stones and in the cavities among the rocks 

 that have seaweed growing upon them. In 

 this they get various crabs, fishes and other 

 creatures. Upon such feeding grounds the 

 sea bass congregate in great herds, rooting 

 and delving among the holes for such deli- 

 cacies in water from twenty to fifty feet 

 deep. They are a bottom loving and bot- 

 tom feeding fish, and rarely come up to the 

 surface. The temperature of the body is 

 low, being very nearly that of the surround- 

 ing water, and their digestion is slow. 

 Though eager feeders, their rate of growth 

 is not rapid. They retreat in all probabil- 

 ity into water of greater depth, where they 

 pass the winter in a somewhat torpid state. 

 The best time to catch them is during their 

 feeding time, which is usually during the 

 lull of the waters between the turn of the 

 tides. The largest fish are caught on the 

 fishing banks, where steamers during the 

 greater part of the year make daily trips 

 to the Cholera Banks off Sandy Hook and 

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