EFFECTS OF AN EASTERLY WIND. 49 
weather and tide are favorable, and the moon is right for giv- 
ing fish an excellent appetite and great activity. Fishes in 
waters near the ocean bite best in the first quarter of the 
moon, while those which are up rivers and creeks, near fresh 
water, bite best at full tides, and immediately alee a “nor’- 
easter,” when the wind, having backed round by the south, 
has settled in the northwest. You may prove these facts 
without going a dozen miles from the metropolis; and I have 
always noticed that it is better fishing in “ the Wills” and at 
the hedges of Newark Bay, as well as at those in the lower 
part of the Bay of New York, when the tide is low, while the 
fishing at King’s Bridge and Spuyten Duyvel is best at very 
high tides. The only exception to this’rule is applicable to 
reefs and low rocky shoals, where bass forage most during 
high tides. 
As we are to try the bass to-morrow, suppose we make a 
day of it? Well, that being agreed to, we will first try Har- 
lem River, or the creek at King’s Bridge. Being an angler, 
you of course know that the baits here are confined to shrimp 
early in spring and late in antumn; to soft-shell and shedder 
crab in the summer and until the middle of October; after 
which soft-shell clam for the English Neighborhood Bridge, 
and shrimp, with an occasional shedder lobster, serve as baits 
in the vicinity of New York, except for trolling in Hell Gate, 
where we use squid; and for fishing in the surf at Newport, 
and along the coast generally, the menhaden is preferred. 
Shad roe is frequently recommended for bass bait. I once 
tried it at Saybrook, near the mouth of the Connecticut Riv- 
er, where the bass were said to bite it unconditionally ; but, 
though I stood on the platform and fished from it, I did not 
capture a single fish. It was not because the bass did not 
like the bait, but rather that the great depth of water and 
strength of tide obliged me to fish with a heavy tracing 
sinker, and the fish stole my bait before it settled on the bot- 
tom, because I was not prepared with the means of porous 
muslin wherein to tie the bait over the hook. I have never 
D 
