326 Big Game Fishes 



particularly being favorite resorts ; and whenever 

 a wreck can be located on the Atlantic coast, good 

 sheepshead fishing will be found. There are 

 several such ocean rookeries between Newport 

 and Delaware Bay which have become famous. 

 I have had excellent fishing near Old Point Com- 

 fort, where I have taken sheepshead from the 

 wharf, and at Beaufort. The fish has never been 

 seen north of Cape Cod, and some localities 

 which knew it well several years ago, know it no 

 more. I was informed by an old fisherman at 

 Fisher's Island that when he was a boy sheeps- 

 head were plentiful, but faithful fishing there failed 

 to obtain a rise; though not many miles away, 

 on the south shore of Long Island, the sheeps- 

 head was the common fish. I once accompanied 

 a party up the beach, near Cape May, who waded 

 out into the breakers, which were not very high, 

 and made long casts out over the supposed loca- 

 tion of an old wreck, some exciting sport being 

 the result. The fishes were large and extremely 

 gamy, making an exhilarating fight, rendered the 

 more exciting by the capsizing of an old angler 

 by a sea as he was about to land his fish. 



The oyster-beds of the Chesapeake are favorite 

 localities for sheepshead, and I have taken the 



