The Amber Jacks 



at anchor. These are the moments of joy in the life 

 of the angler, and surely life is not a failure along 

 the Gulf Stream and is worth living. 



The boatman gives the fish the quietus and holds 

 it up, a sort of giant bluefish, and indeed a cousin, 

 but a fish of entirely different mold. It is about five 

 feet long; the scale limit is sixty, and the indicator 

 as the fish is hooked on goes down with a sag, sug- 

 gesting that eighty pounds is more like it. The 

 amber jack is nicely proportioned, calling to mind the 

 bluefish, but the head is larger in proportion to 

 the body, and solid, and the body is thick and high 

 beneath the dorsal. The dorsal fin extends nearly to 

 the tail and has a streak of gold in it like that of the 

 California yellowtail, its Pacific cousin. The side 

 fins are dusky and gold ; the ventrals dark, even black, 

 and vivid yellow. All the under surface is a vivid 

 silver blazing in the sunlight, while the upper surface 

 is green or amber in the water, flashing blue when out 

 and presenting a blaze of iridescence often as the 

 fish dies. Few fishes so impress one with their evi- 

 dent power and sturdiness as this amber jack which 

 the ichthyologists call Seriola lalandi; a fish which 

 averages twenty-five pounds and in its prime tips the 

 scales at over one hundred. 



Later when four or five jacks have been added to 

 the score they are taken in, the largest one weighing 

 nearly seventy pounds, all in all one of the finest fishes 

 of the summer seas. 



