THE SHEEPSHEAD . 
89 
tel; feel by sounding for a mussel-bed (they are numerous for a mile along 
shore), about two hundred yards from which, when found, cast anchor far 
enough away so that, when the boat toles round from the tide toward the 
feeding-ground, the cast required for dropping your anchor will be about 
fifty feet. The water should be about seven feet deep at low tide, and it 
rises there from four to six feet. The best time is during the period be¬ 
tween high and low tides when the water is slack, and until it runs at the 
rate of five miles an hour, or one hour after it begins to run ; for when the 
tide runs out it is then considered that Sheepshead seek some still-water 
ground and wait for a moderate motion of the waters. At the right times 
of tide the location of the mussel-beds is plainly indicated by a fleet of fif¬ 
teen to twenty sail-boats or hand-line fishermen. Many of them are far¬ 
mers, who, residing near the shore of Jamaica Bay, employ the interreg¬ 
num between hay and grass, uniting their profits, and earning from $3 to 
$10 a day, by fishing for Sheepshead. 
“ There are many places along our shores better than Jamaica Bay. 
The Hand-line Committee makes it pay at Fire Island, and there are 
many superior feeding places in the South Bay ; about the wreck of the 
‘ Black Warrior,’ near the Narrows, is celebrated for its great numbers of 
them ; in truth, our whole coast south of Long Island is rendered inviting 
by this delicious fish.” 
The favorite resorts of northern Sheepshead anglers are among the rocks 
about Jamaica Bay, South Bay, and Fire Island, and in various parts of 
New York Bay, as well as in similar localities on the coast of New Jersey. 
The Sheepshead of the North is generally considered much finer in 
flavor, as well as larger than its southern brethren, but I can speak from 
experience of the delicious qualities of these fish taken in the St. John’s 
River, Fla., at the upper limit of brackish water, and am inclined to 
doubt the vaunted superiority of those of New York. 
In Florida, and as far north as Port Royal, S. C., the Sheepshead is a 
winter resident. Mr. Elliott tells of his success in fishing for these species 
in January and February, despite the scarcity of bait. At Charleston the 
fish is scarce in winter. At the mouth of the Chesapeake it appears in early 
April, in New Jersey in May, and at about the same time in the vicinity 
of New York. In mid-summer it is seen in • southern New England. It 
leaves New Jersey about September, and Virginia in October. Its pre¬ 
ferred temperature is, probably, not below 6o° or 65° F. Frank H. Al¬ 
len in the American Angler , (1, 55) states that at Indian River Inlet, Fla., 
three men at one tide took one hundred and sixty Sheepshead, using 
roasted oysters for bait. He states that Sheepshead may, as a rule, be 
