The Jack 173 



for it. I have caught a fish trolling with a white 

 rag, with crayfish, conch, cut to resemble a sar- 

 dine, or mullet, and with a hand-line after a sail 

 boat it affords all the sport of the bluefish when 

 taken in the same manner ; but for true sport the 

 rod should be employed, casting or trolling with 

 sardine or young mullet bait impaled on a 3/0 

 O'Shaughnessy hook. 



The jack, Caranx hippos, is a member of the 

 family Carangidcz, a near relative of the mack- 

 erels and pompanoes ; on the Atlantic coast alone 

 there are twenty-five or more species, many of 

 which afford prime sport with the rod. The 

 only criticism one can make concerning it is that 

 it is not a table fish of the first rank, though in 

 the hands of an expert chef the dark meat is ex- 

 cellent. The hard-tailed jack, or jurel, Caranx 

 pisquetus, though not attaining the size of the 

 former, is of very similar habit and very gamy, its 

 swift movements making its capture rare sport 

 with a light rod. Once while turning green 

 turtles on Loggerhead Key, a school of these 

 fishes began to beat alongshore. I waded among 

 them and threw out upon the sands as many as 

 my men required by catching them by the tail, as 

 they dashed into the almost solid mass of sardines. 



