288 Big Game Fishes 



bonito, which in my experience is a surface fighter. 

 I baited usually with young mullet, but the king- 

 fish stands not upon the order of bait, but takes 

 what is offered with a rush. I have caught them 

 with rags white, rags red, and rags yellow; with 

 a bone jig, with a piece of elongated conch, and a 

 home-made spoon cut and filed from the tip of 

 the big Strombus gigas, this by casting and reel- 

 ing quickly. For a fish so extremely common 

 very little is known regarding its habits. Speci- 

 mens which I caught in the open water near Key 

 West in December contained spawn, but I never 

 saw a very small or young fish in the outer bays 

 or reef. Smack fishermen state that they spawn 

 in the shallow waters around Biscayne Bay. The 

 professional fishermen of Key West have a hearty 

 appreciation of the kingfish, which they follow 

 in large and small boats, trolling for them in deep 

 water, or on shallow grounds offshore, as the case 

 may be, often literally filling the boat with the 

 ceros which rank high as table fish. 



A feast of the kingfish which I often attended 

 is an experience long to be remembered. It would 

 often be announced by the laughing gulls, whose 

 loud and resonant " ha-ha " would come over the 

 glasslike waters as the bird rapidly increased its 



