THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



Bahamas, watching the strange animals in the great patches of 

 sargassum, .the component material of the Sargasso Sea. 



The common names of the fishes here are squirrel, black jack, 

 green grouper, Spanish hogfish, black hogfish, runner, blue 

 porgy, white porgy, shad porgy, scotch porgy, red-taU, bone-fish, 

 yellow tang, mermaid, skipjack, shppery dick, prickley hind, 

 sand-mullet. As I have said, prototypes of many of these fishes, 

 as the snappers, porgies, grunts, angel-fish, barracudas, etc., are 

 found in Florida, where other common names are used, as jack, 

 snapper, yellowtail, grunt, jewfish, lady-fish. The hogfish, 

 a replica of which is seen at the entrance of Hamilton Harbour, 

 at ten or twenty pounds, on a seven- or ten-ounce rod, number 

 nine line, will give the angler abundant sport. If bigger game is 

 required, the swordfish, XipMas and Tetrapteriis, and the Florida 

 Histiophorus are found in deep water off the islands. 



Here is the jack up to ten pounds ; cavally, dolphin, bonito 

 two feet long, and many more. This reef is the home of the gray 

 snapper ; to my mind, one of, if not the cleverest fish of the sea. 

 I have taken many up to twenty pounds on the reef during many 

 years' fishing ; but the average fish is six or seven pounds. Here 

 are seen snappers, grunts and groupers ; and in the ' Devil's 

 Hole ' at Hamilton, groupers of huge size, three and four feet long, 

 may be seen. The spotted kind is a beautifid fish. The barra- 

 cuda is among the hard fighters and occasionally a tarpon is seen. 



When we go south to the Bahamas, we find many similar 

 forms, but a greater variety ; and from here on one can find the 

 home of the Spanish mackerel, so common in the Gulf off Key 

 West, and around to Aransas and Galveston, and undoubtedly 

 down the coast to South America. 



The mackerel-Uke fishes with their steely sides, their trim 

 cut, powerful fins, are ideal game fishes of the sea ; and from 

 the Spanish mackerel to the pintado or kingfish they present a 

 series of hard fighters, especially if they are approached with the 

 right kind of tackle. 



But a few years ago the hand-Une was used everywhere. I 

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