Srartinc ror A Day’s Fisura. 89 
ingarod. Ido not appreciate a repugnance to a rod because 
a fish plays rapidly and with powerful demonstration. The 
angler should use a heavy rod, about nine feet in leneth, and, 
like the ordinary bass rod, the two lower joints should be of 
ash, and the top of lancewood, or the whole rod should be of 
Japan bamboo. TL rather favor a bamboo rod for sheepshead 
fishing. The angler should use the heaviest ake of a steel 
pivot bass reel, large enough to carry six hundred feet of 
line, though there will probably never be more than half that 
length carried off the reel; but the fish doubles and turns so 
rapidly that a large drum, or much line on a reel, is necessary 
to wind the line in quickly and prevent the fish from getting 
slack line, and to give him time to disgorge or break the 
hook. 
To the angler who has never fished for sheepshead I would 
say,“ You have a rare treat in store, so enjoy it the first op- 
portunity.” Ifa resident of New York, you will find Canar- 
sie, or the “Old Mill,” near East New York, the most conve- 
nient places to take sail-boat from, and bait is generally plen- 
ty at either place. Sail down the channel above the inlet 
toward Near Rockaway ; about a mile below Remsen’s Hotel, 
feel by sounding for a mussel-bed: they are numerous for a 
mile along shore, about 200 yards from it. When found, cast 
anchor far enough away, so that when the boat toles round 
by the tide toward the fecding-ground, the cast required tor 
dropping your sinker on it will be about fifty feet. The wa- 
ter should be about seven feet deep at low tide, and it rises 
there from four to six feet. The best tide to fish is during 
high and low tides, when the water is slack, and until it runs 
at the rate of five miles the hour, or one hour after it begins 
to run; for when the tide runs at its full strength, sheeps- 
head seek some still-water ground, and wait for a moderate 
motion of the waters. During the intermission Iam in the 
habit of taking up anchor and trolling for bluefish, or of 
seeking some feeding-ground up a bayou, or some sunken 
vessel, where I angle for sea bass, squeteague, striped Dass, 
