CHAPTER XXI 



THE SHEEPSHEAD 



" I shall stay him no longer than to wish, . . . that if he be 

 an honest angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes 

 a-fishing." IZAAK WALTON. 



THE ancients long ago discovered the value 

 of the sheepshead or its representatives, and the 

 Chrysophrys of the Greeks, and Aurata of the 

 Latins, was the gilthead of the English, accord- 

 ing to Sir John Richardson. Sergius Grata, a 

 famous Roman well liver, considered the gilt- 

 head the finest of all fishes, and it is said that his 

 surname was derived from this fish. He intro- 

 duced them into ponds, and cultivated oysters and 

 other shell-fish that the giltheads might have the 

 most delicate food. According to Pliny, he sug- 

 gested and designed the oyster nurseries at Baiae 

 upon which were fed the sheepshead which were 

 sold to the Roman epicures. Few fishes to-day 

 excel the sheepshead when properly served, and 

 as a game fish it ranks high when taken with a 

 light rod and the lightest line. 



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