THE GAME FISHES OP THE WOELD 



Seriola lalandi. It is taken in great numbers at Palm Beach 

 and along the Florida coast. They are often caught trolling- 

 from a launch ; but for rod and reel fishing, unless the launch is. 

 small enough to move about quickly, a row-boat is advisable. 

 A nine-ounce, seven- or eight-foot rod is long enough for this, 

 game, usiag a belt with a butt socket. A good multiplying- 

 reel is a necessity, a long, piano-wire leader, with several swivels 

 (the "winged swivels of Mr. iN'ewbury are excellent), and a 10/* 

 tarpon hook, or a smaller one if live bait is used. The amber- 

 jack is not particular as to bait ; but a live mullet or bluefish 

 makes still fishing very alluring, and when troUing from a sail- 

 boat or launch, squid or dead bait is acceptable. To my mind, the 

 most fascinating method is to ' still fish ' with live bait, or, if. 

 possible, approach a school of small fry, beneath which the 

 amber-jacks are lying. Mr. Gregg in his valuable book, Hotc 

 to Catch Fish in Florida, describes an instance. When on leaving 

 the Eoyal Poinoiana, his attention was attracted to a school 

 of fish near the pier. It was a school of bluefish, and baiting 

 their hooks with small pieces of mullet, they hooked a bluefish^ 

 which in turn was taken by the game they were after, the amber- 

 jack beneath. Mr. Gregg hooked a number before he landed 

 a fish, as they aU came at the dock and cut the Une, an experi- 

 ence I have often had with the yelloAvtail at Avalon. 



An enthusiastic angler, burdened "with the symptoms of an 

 artistic temperament is liable to think that every fish is the 

 best and fiercest fighter. So while I have had no extended ex- 

 perience "with this fish, I have a most alluring impression and 

 memory of those I have taken ; and if there is anything more 

 soul-stirring (in fishes of this size) than the first rush of a forty- 

 pound amber-jack, I do not know it. The imperious smashing^ 

 departure, the high staccato of the reel — ^a real shriek — ^from 

 the cUck, the sense of power and strength the fish gives you, are 

 all elements which go to make up a great game fish. I refer 

 now to a fish taken from a small, well-handled boat, where the 

 oarsman can keep you facing the game, and you are playing it 

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