THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



hand-lines, though I have taken it with a rod in Long Island Sound. 

 There are several relatives of this fish — the rock sea basses that 

 are good game on the line. They are also known as squirrel 

 fishes. 



The Triple tail {Loibotes) at twenty or thirty pounds is a hard 

 fighter, due to its broad shape, that forces the angler to believe 

 that he has a fish ten times its size. I have taken this fish in 

 the Chesapeake Bay not far from the capes, and so far as I know, 

 it is not a common catch anywhere. Along the Atlantic Coast 

 the fish known as porgies afford no little pleasure to a score of 

 admirers. They belong to the tribe of Calamus, and there are 

 twelve or more species from Florida and the West Indies. You 

 cannot fish in Cuba without hearing of the Pez de pluma, and in 

 Key West the Conchs ' conjure ' with him. The jolt-head 

 porgy grows larger than the others. I once hooked one that was 

 at least three feet long and must have weighed thirty or more 

 pounds. He was so large that two remoras doubtless thought 

 he was a shark as they were riding with him, hard and fast, 

 their black shapes in strong contrast to his striped gray sides. 

 He took my crayfish bait, also my Une, but I had a good look 

 at him. A somewhat similar fish is the sheepshead {ArcJwsargm) 

 that ranges up and down the Atlantic Coast, and I have taken 

 it in the St. John's Eiver and in the St. Mary's when fishing for 

 sea-trout. 



The sheepshead weighs three or four pounds, but leviathans 

 have been taken up to ten or fifteen pounds. This is the great fish 

 of the people and in themarketsof the South and Gulf of Mexico;' 

 a good food fish. Few fishes fight harder than this high-domed 

 little fish. He fights and protests until he is in the boat, and 

 often makes a desperate resistance at the surface, splashing the 

 water over the angler. The sheepshead has a dignified stately 

 manner of swimming that is very impressive. These fishes five 

 on crustaceans and mollusks, and the ease with which they will 

 bite off a poor or slender hook is ludicrous. 'So better illustra- 

 tion of what a little fish can do on light tackle can be given than 

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