" It is a brave, a royal sport, 



Trolling for bluefish o'er the seas; 

 Fair skies and soaring gulls above, 



A steady blowing breeze; 

 A shapely yacht whose foaming prow 



The bellowy plain divides, 

 That like a gallant courser speeds 



Far, free o'er ocean tides." 



The bluefish has been called the Spanish buccaneer among game 

 fishes of the sea, by reason of its piratical habits, its wanton manner of 

 pursuing its prey — killing smaller fish, principally menhaden or moss- 

 bunkers, in vast numbers, and eating but a small portion of those that 

 are slaughtered. The ocean pirate, variously known as the skipjack, 

 horse mackerel, snapping mackerel, etc., is a valiant game fish, deservedly 

 prized whether on the line or on the banquet board, and all along the 

 Atlantic coast from Florida to Maine the coming of the bluefish is 

 eagerly awaited by anglers and widely heralded by the press each season. 



In appearance the bluefish is strong and symmetrical, with graceful 

 curved lines indicating agility and speed. The color is steel blue above 

 and white or greenish white underneath, while the mouth is large and the 

 edges well filled with very sharp teeth, enabling the fish to seize and 

 sever the mossbunkers with great ease. In size the bluefish varies 

 greatly, according to season and locality, the ordinary range being from 

 fourteen to thirty-two inches in length, and from one pound to fifteen 

 pounds in weight, though an instance is recorded of the capture of a 

 specimen weighing twenty-five pounds. This fish was caught in 1874, 

 with rod and reel, at Cohasset Narrows, by Mr. L. Hathaway. 



It is a singular fact, noted by naturalists, in various works on ichthy- 

 ology, that the appearance of the bluefish along the Atlantic coast of the 

 United States northward of Carolinas has been irregular. In -southern 



44 



