158 Big Game Fishes 
angler has a wide range from “snappers” of two 
or more pounds with a fly-rod, to eight pounds 
with a bass rod, adapting his tackle to the size 
of the game at hand. In trolling, the jig is used 
— bone or metal, menhaden or any silvery fish, or 
even a white rag. Along the Jersey shore and 
many wide sandy beaches they are caught by cast- 
ing far out beyond the breakers, the men running 
the fish in with the line over their shoulders as 
soon as hooked. Others, again, at very favorable 
localities, wade out and cast with rods, but the 
best rod-fishing is in some locality where the boat 
can be rowed by a boatman or anchored near a 
tide-rip, when the angler can cast his menhaden 
or sardine out into the water, and by reeling in 
hook the gamy fish. 
The bluefish is a comely creature about three 
feet in length, long, fairly slender, with a robust, 
well-proportioned body, the dorsal fins low, the 
tail large and powerful. Its color, as the name 
indicates, is blue above, appearing green in the 
water, and bright silvery below, and altogether 
a beautiful fish, the embodiment of vigor, grace, 
and pugnacity. It belongs to the genus Poma- 
tomus, and has many synonyms, twelve at least, 
and is now known as Pomatomus saltatrix (Linn.). 
