



SNAPPING MACKEREL. 159 



see one after another of the green-backed, silvery snap- 

 pers dart from under the accumulated froth, chase and 

 swallow your bait,, and no slight satisfaction to observe 

 the increasing number in your basket, and think of how 

 your friends will enjoy their supper that night. 



There is one singular fact to be observed, that whereas 

 blue-fish invariably take the invitation squid, or artificial 

 fly, with voracity, the snapping mackerel, except in the 

 South Bay of Long Island, can rarely be tempted by it. 

 In Long Island Sound I have failed with the fly and the 

 spoon entirely, and have found the gutta percha minnow 

 to work only passably, whereas in the South Bay they 

 are taken readily with a leaden squid, of a peculiar 

 shape, run on a large hook and polished bright. 



The spearing is their favorite food, but the extreme 

 sensitiveness of that remarkable little fish, that renders 

 keeping him alive impossible, injures the attractive- 

 ness of the bait. As has been elsewhere observed, 

 when small fish are used, it is desirable to keep them 

 alive if possible, and the snappers will often give the 

 preference to a lively killey, that by his efforts to escape 

 incites the eagerness of their pursuit, over a dead spear- 

 ing, that by his peculiar manner of resting in the water 

 arouses their suspicions. 



As the season advances, the fish are found in all rapid 

 currents of the salt water, and the barred killey is by far 

 the most killing bait. The best way of rigging your 

 tackle is to have a small float and light swivel sinker, 

 below which there is a short leader of gut. The latter is 

 fastened to the middle of a piece of whalebone or wire 

 about two inches long, to each end of which the hook, 



