252 WHERE, WHEN, AXD HOW TO CATCH FISH 



about ten minutes with the line out towards the edge of the little channel, when I 

 saw eight or ten of the hopefuls poke their noses over the edge of the channel, and 

 within five minutes I had my fish hooked. Well, I had been angling in many 

 waters, far and near, salt and fresh, and caught, as I thought, about all the fishes 

 known in this country, but here was a sensation indeed, a new edition of chain 

 lightning, and that greased. I caught during the remainder of that day nine fish, 

 and an old hunter who has trailed his old buck through the forest until foot-sore 

 and heart-sick, finally bringing him down with a well-directed shot, can alone fully 

 appreciate my feelings. 



Afterwards, studying the fishes and their habits closely, I was able to take them 

 with little difficulty. Four of us caught in one day sixty-four (of course turning 

 loose all but the few we could eat). That constitutes the Bonefish record with rod 

 and reel, and I doubt not will stand as such for many a long year. 



The fish is known to comparatively few anglers and the books do not allude to 

 him at all, or have him confused with the Ladyfish. His habitat is very cir- 

 cumscribed in this country, being confined mainly within the waters of the East 

 Coast of Florida from Biscayne Bay to Mattecombe Keys, occasionally a few as 

 far north as Lake Worth, and as far south as Key West. 



We usually, in fact almost invariably, fish for them on extended areas of banks, 

 where at flood tide the water is from six to fifteen inches deep. Their habit is to 

 feed up on the top of the banks with the flood, falling back with it into the deep 

 water. They live solely upon the most delicate of Crustacea, Perriwinkles, Crabs, 

 Shrimp, etc., and they will not take a stale bait ; I have tried them repeatedly. I 

 have had a seven-pound fish run 500 feet straight away without a pause, carrying in 

 addition to the weight of the line an ounce of lead, and they will make repeated 

 runs, usually never making a flutter after being laid in the boat ; they take all the 

 chances and fight to a finish everytime ; they are a very stoutly-built fish and every 

 line is for speed ; their only protection is their watchful timidity and speed. I am 

 sure that, unhampered, nothing with fins, or scales, can catch them, unless it be a 

 Porpoise. The genuine angler who has not caught the Bonefish has a sure enough 

 sensation in prospect, which I envy. If the Bonefish were as large as the Tarpon, 

 with speed increased with the size, no rod and reel that could be used by hand 

 could be manufactured that could make him captive. I verily believe that, pound 

 for pound, the Bonefish is, far and away, the king of all swimmers ; and the only 

 objection I can urge against him is that an experience with him forever disqualifies 

 one for all other fishing. 



