Jan. 9, 1890. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



493 



It reaches a length of 5ft, and a weight of twenty pounds. 



The cobia breeds in Chesapeake Bay. and, perhaps, occa- 

 sionally in Great Egg Harbor. Very little is known about 

 the rate of growth of the young. I obtained two ex- 

 amples, the first I have seen, in Great Egg Harbor Bay, 

 in August, 1887. and one of these is figured in the Bulletin 

 17. S. Fish Commission for that year. A most remark- 

 able thing takes place in the development of the caudal 

 fin, which departs from the common rule and changes 

 from a rounded and somewhat produced fin to one which 

 is deeply forked when the fish becomes adult. The ven- 

 tral fin of the young also is very much longer than in the 

 adult, and the dark stripes of the sides are less sharply 

 defined. 



"The cobia is more often taken on the east coast than on 

 the west coast, though it is not common in any portion 

 of Florida. It has been confounded by anglers with an- 

 other fish, the 'snook' or 'ravallia/ which is a very 

 abundant fish on both coasts. The latter fish has two 

 dorsal fins, like the pike-perch (wall-eyed pike), and a 

 head and mouth somewhat similar, but has not the long, 

 canine teeth of the pike-perch. 



"The cobia has a single dorsal fin, extending from the 

 middle of the back almost to the tail, and the anal fin is 

 nearly of the same extent. 



"The snook (Centropomus undecirnalis) is greenish on 

 the back and bright silvery on the sides and belly, with a 

 single very black stripe or band running along the side 

 from the gill-cover to the tail. 



The cobia (Elacate Canada) is brownish or olivaceous 

 on the back and silvery below, with a dark band or stripe 

 along the side, which, beginning at the snout and run- 

 ning through the eye and gill-cover, extends to the tail: 



summer, according to Stearns, and the young remain 

 until October. 



"The moon fish, or as it is universally called in Florida, 

 the 'angeifish,' is abundant on both coasts, but is a much 

 better fish for the table than for the angler. It is one of 

 the best fish for the frying-pan of the camper, but it has 

 a very small mouth and is seldom taken with the hook. 



It grows to several pounds in weight, about 6lbs. being 

 the heaviest I have seen, though it is of tener taken of 

 but a. pound in the seines of the fishermen. Light tackle 

 is needed for its capture." 



The Silver Mullet (Mugil ciirevia).— This well-known 

 and abundant fish has the additional names, jumping 

 mullet, white mullet, blueback mullet, big-eyed mullet 

 and liza. It is not included here because of its game 

 qualities, but on account of its universal application as a 

 bait fish and its excellence for food. 



The silver mullet is recorded from the warm seas of 

 both sides of our continent, in the Pacific extending 

 north to Lower California, and in the Atlantic to Cape 

 Cod. Southward it ranges to Peru and Brazil. In the 

 West Indies the species is commonly called liza. In 

 Florida the silver mullet is one of the most abundant of 

 the fishes and one of the most useful to man, the fish- 

 eating birds and the predaceous fishes. Swimming in 

 shoals at the surface, it is constantly followed by myri- 

 ads of birds and shoals of porpoises and fish as well as by 

 the fishermen with their gill nets, seines and casting nets. 



The mullet frequents shallow mud flats and runs up 

 small creeks. It lives in fresh water during several 

 months of the ypar. Its food consists of minute or- 

 ganisms imbedded in the bottom mud and is sifted before 

 entering the gizzard-like stomach by passing through a 



following them far up the river into fresh water. The 

 young are said to enter fresh waters very freely. One of 

 the most striking traits of the tarpum is its leaping high 

 into the air. On this account it is difficult to handle and 

 plays havoc when surrounded by a seine by breaking the 

 net and sometimes maiming or even killing the fisher- 

 men. A fish of heroic size and endurance and of sur- 

 passing brilliance in its mail of burnished silver, it plays 

 tantalizingly in the shallows, where it tempts the angler 

 to come and match his skill and armor against its strength 

 and energy. 



The tarpum is the giant of its family and much larger 

 than any member of the related herring family. It at- 

 tains a length of 8ft. and a weight of lTOlbs. Nothing is 

 known to us about its reproduction and rate of growth; 

 anglers could do good service by recording their obser- 

 vations on these points. 



" The tarpon has achieved a notoriety as a game fish 

 within the past five or six years, principally through the 

 writings of Dr. C. J. Kenworthy, and Mr. W. A. Wood 

 has received credit, generally, of killing the first tarpon 

 of over lOOlbs. with rod and reel, in March, 1885; but 

 justice compels me to state that the first event of this 

 kind occurred in the winter of 1880-81, when Mr, Samuel 

 H. Jones, of Philadelphia, killed a tarpon of 1701bs., on 

 ordinary heavy striped bass tackle, in the Fort Pierce 

 channel of Indian River Inlet, on the east coast of Flot" 

 ida. I was at this locality the winter following this feat 

 and learned the full particulars of this extraordinary per- 

 formance from Mr. Thomas Paine (son of Judge Paine, 

 of Fort Capron), who was Mr. Jones's boatman on the 

 occasion referred to. Afterward I received a. full account 

 of it from a son of Mr. Jones, who was also with him 



and both above and below this stripe are fainter parallel 

 stripes or bands. 



"The cobia is hardly common enough to rank as a 

 game fish of Florida, while the snook is very abundant, 

 and is a gamy, hard-fighting fish on the hook. The 

 name 'sergeant fish' has been applied to both fishes on 

 account of the black stripes along their sides, and this 

 name has led to most of the confusion of the two fishes 

 by anglers. 



"The cobia can be taken with mullet or crab bait by 

 casting under the mangroves in rather deep water, near 

 the inlets. Striped bass tackle should be used, as it runs 

 up to 20 or 801bs. in weight, and is a very voracious, 

 strong and active fish. 



"The snook or ravallia is taken in both brackish and 

 fresh water almost anywhere along the coasts, in the 

 bays, sounds and lower parts of streams with mullet, 

 crab or fiddler bait, or with the trolling spoon. It is a 

 vigorous, hard fighter, and good tackle is required for its 

 capture. A light striped bass rod, multiplying reel, 

 braided E line, and 3-0 to 6-0 Sproat hooks, with gimp 

 snell, are about right for the snook up to 151bs. It also 

 rises well to an artificial fly of large size, composed 

 mostly of red and yellow feathers, though, in fact, to 

 almost any gay-colored fly. A heavy bleak bass fly-rod 

 is needed for this fish, as its first rush, when hooked, is 

 somewhat demoralizing to a timid angler and very trying 

 to his tackle, It is not a bad fish for the table, being 

 better, I think, than either the channel bass or drum." 



The Angelfish (Chcetodipterus faber).— On the St. 

 Johns and Indian Rivers and in most other parts of 

 Florida and north to South Carolina this fine food fish is 

 known by the name at the head of this sketch. It is the 

 spadefish of the western part of the Gulf of Mexico. At 

 Beaufort it is called porgee. Names said to have been 

 used by New York fishermen are three-tailed porgee 

 and three-tailed sheepshead. We have heard it styled 

 the triple-tail also. Moonfish is still another name for 

 the species. 



The angeifish appears to range from Cape Cod, where 

 it is an occasional visitor, to Brazil. It is known in the 

 West Indies and is common in the Gulf of Mexico, In 

 the warm portions of the Pacific it is recorded as far 

 north as San Diego, but it is too rare in California to 

 figure as an important food fish. Gunther includes it in 

 fauna of the East Indian seas. 



Owing to the fact that the young is banded and the 

 adult unicolor, two species were until recently credited 

 to our coast. 



A striking peculiarity of the skull of old specimens of 

 the angeifish is the globular bony mass formed by the 

 enlargement of some of the bones of the top of the head. 

 As a curiosity this ranks as high as the molar-bearing 

 pharyngeal bones of the drum. 



Silas Stearns states that it is common on west Florida, 

 Alabama and Louisiana shores, but not is south Florida, 

 frequenting wharves, rock -piles and wrecks. It forms 

 in large schools in October and November preparatory to 

 leaving the coast. 



The food of the angeifish is crustaceans. The fish 

 reaches a length of 3ft. The spawning season is early 



filter in the pharynx. Steams relates his experience in 

 I transferring mullet from salt to fresh water: "In 1879 1 

 took a dozen or more medium-sized mullet from the 

 warm shoal water of the bay and placed them in cool, 

 fresh spring water. They swam around very rapidly 

 for about half an hour, then sank to the bottom of the 

 spring, where they remained, apparently comfortable for 

 twelve hours. Before leaving the spring I returned them 

 (o their native waters, seemingly in as good condition as 

 when first caught. The bay water was at that time 77° 

 Fahrenheit, and the spring water 71°, a difference of 6°, 

 and a change from pure salt to pure fresh water." 



The average length of the silver mullet is 12in., and 

 the weight about l^lbs. Stearns has seen individuals of 

 20in., weighing lbs. 



The spawning season begins in summer and lasts until 

 November. Spawning takes place in fresh or brackish 

 water, in bayous, river mouths, or heads of bays, where 

 the proppr combinations of grass, sand and mud can be 

 found. The roe of the mullet is a great delicacy and an 

 important article of commerce. The fresh mullet, in our 

 estimation, is one of the finest pan fishes on our coast. 



"Neither the silver mullet nor the striped mullet are 

 game fishes. I once took one of the latter on a small ar- 

 tificial gray fly, as an experiment, but although it was 

 hooked in the mouth, I think it was an accident, for I 

 never succeeded in taking another. The mullets swarm 

 in countless myriads in all the shallow waters in Florida, 

 both salt and fresh. They furnish food for fishes, rep- 

 tiles, birds and man. They are important to the angler 

 only as bait-fishes, and, because so easily captured with 

 the cast-net are important as food fishes to the settlers of 

 Florida. They are very valuable commercial fishes, like- 

 wise, being the principal objects of pursuit at the fishing 

 ranches, where they are split, cleaned and salted." 



The Tarpum {Megalops atlanticus). — This renowned 

 fish is known also as tarpon, tarpun, grande ecattle, 

 grandacoy, silver fish, silver king, sabalo, sevanilla and 

 jewfish. 



It is evidently more common in the West Indies than 

 in our waters, for the only young examples we have seen 

 are from Cuba. Occasionally an individual finds its 

 way north to Cape. Cod and the species ranges southward 

 to Brazil; it is abundant everywhere in the Gulf of 

 Mexico, but its appearance in certain localities depends 

 largely on the warmth of the water. The tarpum has 

 been taken in the Bermudas. Concerning its distribu- 

 tion last winter in Florida Dr. J. A. Henshall writes as 

 follows: 



"Last winter I saw plenty of tarpon on Barne's Sound 

 and Card's Sound, east of Cape Sable, early in February, 

 but north of the Cape I did not see a single tarpon, 

 owing to the unusually cold water. When I arrived at 

 PuntaRassa, early in March, I found a score or more of 

 Northern anglers who had been fishing for several weeks, 

 but the first tarpon had been taken only the day before 

 my arrival." 



The total catch at Punta Rossa to April 26, 1889, was 

 only forty-tyvo. 



This is preeminently a predaceous species and very 

 active in its movements. It preys upon smaller fishes, 



and witnessed the capture of this immense fish, with 

 striped bass rod and tackle and trolling spoon for bait. 

 Mr. Jones was two hours in securing the fish. Honor to 

 whom honor is due. Mr. Wood has glory enough in 

 being the champion tarpon slayer of 1885, and he has an 

 enviable record. He was the first to make known through 

 the sporting press how the thing could be done. I was at 

 Punta Rassa in March, 1886, and saw him bring in, from 

 Estero Bay, his famous 1461b. tarpon and two others 

 weighing nearly lOOlbs. each. 



"Mr, Wood's record, however^ was broken by Mr. 

 Walter Man, who in 1886, 1 think, or may be in 1887, 

 killed nine tarpon, near Punta Rassa, aggregating more 

 than a thousand pounds: the largest two weighed , respec- 

 tively, 151 and 1491bs. These fish were all killed on 

 heavy striped bass rods and ordinary striped bass tackle. 



" The largest tarpons I have seen in Florida — and I have 

 seen thousands — were at Indian River Inlet, in the Fort 

 Pierce channel (where Mr. Jones killed his big fish), and 

 were from 6 to 8ft. long — a large school of them — rolling- 

 out on the surface like porpoises, and within a few feet 

 of my boat. I have never fished for the largest tarpon 

 with rod and reel (I once took one, on a shark line, weigh- 

 ing about 1251bs.), as I do not fancy, particularly, the 

 sport. 



" The rod for large tarpon should be a heavy striped bass 

 rod, about 8ft. long, of natural cane or split-bamboo, the 

 first, for so large a fish, being preferable on account of 

 lightness. Most tarpon fishers, however, use a very short, 

 stiff and heavy rod, from 5 to 7ft. long, more like a bil- 

 liard cue than a rod, it being used more for the purpose 

 of casting the bait and holding the reel than playing the 

 fish. 



"The tackle consists of a large, perfectly-made, freely- 

 running multiplying reel, capable of holding 600ft. of 12 

 to 18-thread striped bass line, and knobbed 8-0 Sproat or 

 O'Shaughnessy hooks, with braided linen snells, 2 or 3ft. 

 long and t of an inch diameter — the braided linen snell 

 is better than wire or chain, which are often used. 



"The bait is cut from a mullet and fastened to the 

 hook as the menhaden bait in striped bass fishing, and is 

 cast in the same way, but suffered to lie on the bottom, 

 as the fishing is done in comparatively shallow bays and 

 coves where there is no current, 



"The angler proceeds to such places in his boat, accom- 

 panied by his boatman. After casting his bait, prefera- 

 bly on a clear sandy bottom, but near to mossy bottom, 

 he reels off a quantity of line, ten or fifteen yards, in the 

 boat, so that the fish can take the bait, move off with it, 

 and swallow it, without resistance; and when it swims 

 away quietly and the slack is all taken up the angler 

 hooks it in the throat or gullet, when it is only a question 

 of time, if the angler is level-headed and the tackle holds, 

 before the colossal fish exhausts itself in its grand and 

 terrific leaps and vain efforts to dislodge the hook or 

 smash the tackle, while towing the boat and its occu- 

 pants. The angler holds the rod and gives and takes line 

 when necessary, the grand fish, meanwhile, leaping out, 

 sometimes to a height of six feet, and may be for a dozen 

 or more times, until finally it lies on the surface utterly 

 exhausted, when it is either gaffed or towed ashore. 



