SEA-FISHING. 471 
The tautog, or black fish, is an ugly, leather-mouthed, 
spine-backed fish, but excellent in a barbecue, and a toler- 
ably game fish on the hook. 
He comes into season early in spring, and it is said 
that the flowering of the dogwoods may be regarded as a 
sign that he is in condition. 
His favorite grounds are the vicinity of submerged 
rocks, piles, or sunken wrecks, where there are strong 
whirls and eddies. He is always taken on the bottom. 
A stout trolling-rod, with a strong flaxen line, a reel, 
and two black-fish hooks of size to suit the angler’s pleasure, 
each armed on foot lengths of trebly twisted gut, the one 
of twelve, the other of fifteen inches length, attached to a 
ring which is appended to the line below the sinker, con- 
stitute the best tackle. 
The most killing bait is the little fiddler, or soldier 
crab ; but the black fish also bites freely at the large finny 
worm of the salt-water beaches, Nereis, when baited on the 
proper hook. 
He bites slowly, and likes to suck at the bait before 
swallowing it, but, when struck, he pulls well and fights 
hard, running for the most part downward. He runs in 
weight from one to ten or twelve pounds, and is famous 
for his tenacity of life. 
The sheep’s-head is usually taken with drop-lines of 
two hundred yards, a pound sinker, and a stout black-fish 
hook; but this is but a pull-baker, pull-devil kind of sport, 
and the only real way to fish for him is with a capital stiff 
trolling-rod, a large click reel, and a couple of hundred 
yards of stout flaxen line. The hook, a large sized one 
