ON THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA. 211 



Lighthouse, north, to the House of Refuge, about fifteen miles, 

 which with launch can be covered in one day, and by sailboat with 

 good wind. Very few will care to make the whole distance unless 

 they are after numbers of some one variety, usually Kingfish. I am 

 almost ashamed to say I was one of three who caught 135 Kingfish 

 one day in the winter of 1897, on the "Ada B.," Capt. Charles 

 Brickie, and we covered the distance from near Fowey Rock Light to 

 the House of Refuge ; it was a pretty rough day, too. Mr. Alfred 

 Costello of New York and Mr. B. J. Pacetti of Ponce Park were my 

 accomplices in the business. 



As stated heretofore, you can on sufficiently quiet days leave the 

 launch or sailboat in a rowboat, and with rod and reel, with the bait 

 desired, take the above fishes. This is the most scientific method, 

 and to those who have fished a great deal, one fish caught this way 

 affords more pleasure than a hundred caught on a hand line. Still 

 we will all take the hand line once in a while. A very good way is 

 to troll from launch or sailboat, and when a fish takes your bait, luff 

 up if a sailboat, or stop the launch, play your fish until he is ex- 

 hausted. Or, when the fish strikes, get out into the rowboat and 

 " follow the fish " until you "bring him to gaff." 



The ' ' patches ' ' are very numerous off Biscayne Bay, and any of 

 the experienced boatmen can take you to them, where all of the reef 

 fishes can be caught, such as Snappers, Groupers, Mutton-fish, Jew- 

 fish, etc. The Groupers up to fifty or sixty pounds, Jewfish and 

 Sharks up to almost any weight you can think of, certainly up to 400 

 to 500 pounds, if you can hold them. Mr. Costello and Mr. Miller 

 of Buffalo took one such day's work last winter and got all they 

 wanted of it. They brought a part of their catch up to the hotel, 

 which consisted of Groupers and Jewfish, of thirty to sixty pounds, 

 and several heads, and larger parts of the same kinds of fishes, the 

 Sharks having relieved them of the other parts while they were haul- 

 ing in. They had hold of many fish which they could not "stop" 

 at all, and had to cut their lines. 



Sharks will nearly always follow a boat trolling, and will usually 

 take the whole or a part of some of the fishes you hook. Of the 

 135 mentioned above, I presume eight or ten had lost all but 

 their heads, and probably as many lost one-fourth to half their 

 length, this in addition to many where the Sharks had "gone the 

 whole hog." 



