122 Big Game Fishes 
ant yellowtail, Ocyurus chrysurus, was most com- 
mon and one of the gamiest. The angel-fishes, 
especially the black and white variety, would 
astonish one by their strength, while the great 
parrot-fishes in gorgeous tints should be included 
in any account of game fishes, affording good 
sport with light tackle. 
Among these gorgeous creatures, which seemed 
colored to accord with their environment, the 
hogfish reigned supreme, its striking shape and 
brilliant color rendering it a conspicuous object 
as it poised beneath a lavender sea-fan, as though 
for effect, or slowly swam about followed by a 
train of curious and brilliant yellowtails. The 
hogfish ranges in weight from six to twenty-five 
and even thirty pounds, though the large speci- 
mens are rarely caught, individuals weighing 
twenty pounds being considered large. But this 
ocean park in summer was the home for fishes of 
extreme size, and the sport they afforded compen- 
sated for the pitiless heat that ashore made 
butter a liquid and life correspondingly miserable. 
The best fishing was in the morning, and by 
poling over the lagoon in shallow water, just at 
sunrise, quantities of crayfish could be caught feed- 
ing, and grained,—the bait of baits for hogfish, 
