THE SHEEPS HEAD. 
199 
whole clam. The shedder crab is also a very fine, attractive 
bait for them, on grounds where small fish are not numerous. 
“ Great care and skill are requisite in playing a sheeps* 
head. His runs are very vigorous, and his struggles to get 
rid of the hook very powerful. He will dash head-foremost 
against a rock, or the bottom of the boat, in the most violent 
manner, evidently striving to rid liimself of the fatal hook, 
and has often been known to succeed in breaking the hook 
and escaping. I once saw a very fiue one, which a compan- 
ion was playing, dash violently against the large rock, (one 
of the famous stepping stones in Long Island Sound,) and in 
his next run, rushing against the bottom of the boat, with a 
loud thump; and when finally subdued and taken, the shank 
of the hook was found to be broken, and he was only held by 
the strong guaging of the line. The experienced fishermen 
along the Long Island shore of the Sound, often succeed in 
taking sheepshead, by selecting a rock not usually visited by 
fishermen, and baiting it by throwing in daily, for a week or 
two, in the proper season, a half-peck of soft clams, whole, 
depositing them on the eddy 6ide of the rock, caused by the 
flood-tide. They are thus taken, sometimes, in very shallow 
water. These cunning fellows carefully conceal the opera- 
tion of baiting, and when questioned by their competitors, 
often give evasive answers. I knew one, a fine old fellow, 
of Great Neck, who, when asked — ‘ Uncle Jim, where did 
you catch your sheepshead?’ \ery gravely replied — ‘In tho 
mouth.’ 
“ Tho general mode of fishing for them is with the hand 
line, and as before observed, with strong tackle ; but they 
are also taken, by amateur fishermen, with the rod, and 
lighter tackle, affording great amusement by their powerful 
endeavors to escape. When angling for them with the rod, 
a largo lauding net should always be at hand. A friend of 
mine, now deceased, wus playing a sheepshead with his rod, 
