July, 1911 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 247 
Making ready for the day’s outing 
Fishing at Barnegat 
Bay 
New Jersey's Broad Expanse of Inland Water That Has Become the Playground 
of Many Cities Surrounding It 
By William H. Ballou 
ARNEGAT BAY, like a big park, lies in the 
center of a population of perhaps 8,000,- 
000 people, within a radius of eighty miles. 
It invites, entices, fascinates and compels 
its devotees to seek it near sunrise and re- 
luctantly leave it as the sun goes down in 
the great piney woods bordering it. The 
blue of its water is drawn from that of the empyrean, and 
between is a golden yellow horizon that harmonizes with 
multi-shaded greens bordering the bay and the dazzling 
whites of the huge sand-dunes along the ocean front. Go 
where you will, no stretch 
of water more charms and 
delights, in its every mood oe 
of calm and anger. Even 
in the excitement created by 
playing weakfish, blue fish 
or striped bass, one is ever 
conscious of the gorgeous 
natural surroundings, the 
loud roar of the distant surf 
and the scent of the sea. 
Among the thousands of 
devotees on the bay every 
form of passing away time 
may be observed. Some 
are hauling in fish, some 
awaiting a bite, some lunch- 
ing under cabin decks or 
canopies, and many of the 
inevitable regulars casting far out into the surf for channel 
bass. On Mud Channel, Cooper’s Slough and Cedar Creek 
oyster beds, will be found the largest group of catboats 
close together, with parties of weakfishers. During the 
day hundreds sail to Barnegat Bay for luncheon, to climb 
the stairs of the lighthouse (one of the highest), and to 
walk on its beautiful broad beach. Among the endless 
diversions, rifle-shooting at low tide has many devotees 
among both sexes. While not a few live in their own craft 
on the bay, the majority reach the angling grounds from 
hotels from five to twenty miles distant, on every form of 
sail and motor craft. 
Anglers may be divided 
_ into the regulars and irreg- 
; ulars. The regulars are 
those who pass much or all 
of their time during the 
season angling on the bay 
or streams, and who have 
their expense accounts cut 
according to their desires 
and financial conditions. 
Barnegat Bay is the popu- 
lar summer _ pleasure 
ground, both of the classes 
and the masses, of the al- 
most continuous city from 
New York to Philadelphia, 
and both named cities in- 
cluded. It is a water that 
fair sex may be seen read- 
ing novels. Card parties 
are not infrequent on deck. At North Point Beach, at the 
Fishing for weakfish off the inlet 
may be reached in the early 
morning for a day’s sport. 
It is convenient for the large over-Sunday class. It is so 
entrance of the bay—or inlet, as it is termed—are gathered placed that families may reside anywhere around it during 
clam-bake parties, picnics, bathing groups, and the ever- 
or out of season, and to enable the men to run into the city 
