154 Big Game Fishes 



No one can watch the bluefish amusing itself 

 at the expense of a party of dry-land fishermen 

 but is convinced that this blue-backed, slashing 

 creature is the fish of the people. Off Newport 

 and all along the coast the bluefish has been suc- 

 cessfully fished for with rod and reel, and I have 

 enjoyed the sport at Fisher's Island, off New 

 London, and am convinced that if proper boats 

 were employed, after the fashion of the yellovvtail 

 and tuna launches of California, bluefishing with 

 a rod would become as popular as the quest of 

 the striped bass among the islands of strange 

 names, of which Cuttyhunk is the most familiar. 



My first attempt to take a bluefish with a rod 

 was disastrous to the rod. The current at Fisher's 

 Island was particularly fierce where the fish were 

 biting, so that a rowboat was impossible; and, 

 with a stiff breeze, I had my boatman beat up 

 and down across the tide-rip, which reminded me, 

 in its intensity, of the " rip raps " at Old Point 

 Comfort, or " Pull and be d Point " at Ports- 

 mouth. The water was clear and beautiful, aerated 

 with constant whitecaps, hence exhilarating to the 

 fish, which were evidently feeding, breaking water 

 here and there. I had the mainsail triced up so 

 that the main boom, from a distance, looked like 



