The Bluefish 153 
bluefish was the skip-jack, and in all these locali- 
ties it was the same hard-fighting, bluff, line- 
breaking, hook-taking, devastating bluefish, not 
travelling under an incognito, but having alias 
upon alias forced upon it by the fishermen and 
beach-combers alongshore from Maine to Florida. 
Even the most rigid adherents of the school 
of rod fishermen, who look upon the _ hand- 
line as a contrivance of the pot-hunter, will have 
to cry peccavz, when the bluefish is mentioned, as 
the largest number of these gamy creatures are 
taken with a hand-line, and find the ruthless 
slaughter which they carry on among the small 
fry turned upon themselves. No one can deny 
the fascination of the sport; the fresh wind, the 
rushing boat, the skipper sitting on the edge of 
nothing to windward, to hold her down, the angler 
from the city perchance lying in the lee scuppers 
holding on for dear life, his arms wrenched and 
chafed by the gamy fish which seems to be in 
league with the “old man” at the helm to com- 
plete his demoralization. But when the same 
ancient mariner has had his joke, and luffs at the 
strike, then there is sport for the hand-liner, who, 
seized with the lust for killing, plays and is 
played, with shout and laughter. 
