THE GAME FISHES OP THE WOELD 



memorial. The fmi or sport becomes fast and furiotis in a stiff 

 wind, with the white caps flowing. 



Some years ago, I endeaToured to introduce rod fishing for 

 bluefish at the entrance of Long Island Sound ; the experiment, 

 while successful, was very fatal to tips and lines. The skipper 

 in the majority of instances could not get the boat up into the 

 wind quick enough to save the Une. Eod fishing for bluefish 

 has, however, been followed at Newport and other localities ; and 

 I have fished for them along the Jersey shore in the surf after the 

 fashion of channel-bass fishing. This method is also followed 

 at Montauk, l^ewport, Barnegat, Monomoy, and other localities. 



The bluefish is a game fish in appearance, long, well-pro- 

 portioned, with a powerful tail, a soM powerful head, eyes 

 striking, alert ; you could teU at a glance that here is game of the 

 very best quality. To science the bluefish is Pomatomus saltatrix, 

 a name given by Linnaeus. The Yankee of the old time was 

 fond of boasting, and in the West there is still among other 

 offenders, the word ' booster.'' Every booster is supposed to 

 claim that his town is the best, offensive to some, laughable 

 to others. If a booster was to describe the American bluefish 

 he would do it in this way : ' The bluefish can jump higher, 

 come down quicker, dive deeper, and stay under longer, eat more 

 in less time than any fish on the globe.' Along the Jersey coast 

 the bluefish weighs five or six pounds ; in Florida waters from 

 three to six, and sometimes fifteen poimds. His cousins are 

 found in many seas, and he is a wide roamer. Tou may, if you 

 are lucky, take the bluefish in the Mediterranean Sea, the Malay 

 country, in Australian waters under another name, at Natal, the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and off Madagasgar. Strange to say, so far 

 as I know, it has never had the curiosity to foUow up the Gulf 

 Stream to Ballycotton, and afford the gallant anglers of the 

 British Sea Anglers a taste of its metal. In a word, it is not known 

 in the European Atlantic, nor does it visit Bermuda. If there 

 is a caprice the bluefish is not guilty of, fishermen have not dis- 

 covered it. It can never be depended upon to follow any very 

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