182 AMERICAN FISHES. 
would be one of the angler’s prime favorites. Some of the sportsmen 
ignore the Mackerel, but Hallock and Scott are broad-minded enough to 
speak a word in its favor. Hallock says that it affords most excellent 
sport to the rod and reel. ‘‘ Bass tackle of the lightest description, with 
wire gimp snood, is required : caplin, porgy and clams are used for bait, 
and no float is necessary, and when the fish are biting sharply, the bait 
will be taken the instant it touches the water.”’ 
Scott is even more decided in his approval. 
“ Hook-fishing for Mackerel,” remarks he in his Fishing in American 
Waters, “is very exhilarating sport. A brisk breeze, sky mellowed by fleecy 
clouds, gulls swooping and screaming, everything in excitement. Under 
such circumstances and surroundings, it is not strange if the troller, whiffer 
or still-baiter should inflate his lungs and feast his soul until the waning 
sun warns him to desist and retire. Excellent sport is sometimes to be 
had by rowing or sculling a boat into a thick shoal and trolling for them 
with feathered squid, or twirling spoon or casting to them a white artifi- 
cial fly.’’ 
And then—when the Mackerel is caught—trout, bass and sheepshead 
cannot vanquish him in a gastromonic tournament. In Holland, to be 
sure, the Mackerel is not prized, and is accused of tasting like rancid 
fish-oil, and in England, even, they are usually lean and dry, like the 
wretched skeletons which are brought into market in April and May by 
the southern fleet, which goes forth in the early spring from Massachusetts 
to intercept the schools as they approach the coasts of Carolina and Vir- 
ginia. They are not worthy of the name of Mackerel. Scomder is not 
properly in season until the spawning season is over, and the schools begin 
to feed at the surface in the Gulf of Maine and the “ North Bay.” 
Just from the water, fat enough to broil in its own drippings, or slightly 
corned in strong brine, caught at night and eaten in the morning, a 
Mackerel or a bluefish is unsurpassable. A well-cured autumn Mackerel 
is perhaps the finest of all salted fish, but in these days of wholesale 
capture by the purse-seine, hasty dressing and careless handling, it is very 
difficult to obtain a sweet and sound salt Mackerel. Salt Mackerel may 
be boiled as well as broiled, and a fresh Mackerel may be cooked in the 
same manner. Americans will usually prefer to do without the sauce of 
fennel and gooseberry which transatlantic cooks recommend. Fresh and 
salt, fat and lean, new or stale, Mackerel are consumed by Americans in 
