154 Big Game Fishes 
No one can watch the bluefish amusing itself 
at the expense of a party of dry-land fishermen 
but is convinced that this blue-backed, slashing 
creature is the fish of the people. Off Newport 
and all along the coast the bluefish has been suc- 
cessfully fished for with rod and reel, and I have 
enjoyed the sport at Fisher’s Island, off New 
London, and am convinced that if proper boats 
were employed, after the fashion of the yellowtail 
and tuna launches of California, bluefishing with 
a rod would become as popular as the quest of 
the striped bass among the islands of strange 
names, of which Cuttyhunk is the most familiar. 
My first attempt to take a bluefish with a rod 
was disastrous to the rod. The current at Fisher’s 
Island was particularly fierce where the fish were 
biting, so that a rowboat was impossible; and, 
with a stiff breeze, I had my boatman beat up 
and down across the tide-rip, which reminded me, 
in its intensity, of the “rip raps” at Old Point 
Comfort, or “ Pull and be d Point” at Ports- 
mouth. The water was clear and beautiful, aerated 
with constant whitecaps, hence exhilarating to the 
fish, which were evidently feeding, breaking water 
here and there. I had the mainsail triced up so 
that the main boom, from a distance, looked like 
