SPOTS, CPOAKERS AND PONCADOPS. 
T 3 1 
t( In the Harlem and East Rivers and in Long Island Sound, where I 
have caught them, they run very small indeed, and it requires great 
patience and small hooks to take them in. They keep up a constant 
nibbling, and the angler is so busy pulling his line up every minute or two 
that he wishes he had not fallen in with the silvery pests. 
t( Like the bergall the Spot bites at the hook with a sly tentative 
nibble and immediately darts away, as is proved by their being frequently 
hooked in the back, sides or tail. But there is this difference between 
dinners and Lafayettes ; the latter are good to eat and the former are 
worthless. I know of no daintier morsel than a big, fresh Lafayette, 
nicely fried and served hot. They are the most tasteful of all the salt water 
pan-fish with the exception of the Stonington eel. 
“ Lew would care to go out especially for Spots, but if you do have a lot 
of fine, sharp hooks, put four on your line above a light sinker, bait with 
small pieces of clam or saddworm, and fish on the first of the flood or at 
dead high water in about fourteen feet. It is great fun to take them with 
a very light rod. They can be caught in great numbers at Rockaway, 
Cape May, Atlantic City, in fact, everywhere on the coast.” 
The Spot is abundant at Mayport, Fla., in spring and summer. In the 
Gulf of Mexico, according to Stearns, it is present in the bays all the 
year, living in shoal water, feeding upon the bottom upon the small inver¬ 
tebrate animals, and taken with hook and line and seine. It is extremely 
abundant, and is considered a good food fish.* 
There is a rare species, allied to the Spot, recorded from Charleston, 
S. C., and St. George’s Island, Tex., known by naturalists under the name 
Stelliferus lanceolatus. It is found in deep water, and is not sufficiently 
abundant to have acquired a common name. 
The Yellow Tail, Bairdiella clirysura, known as “ Silver Perch ” on the 
* How to Fry Pan-fish —“ To fry is to boil in fat, therefore the fat must boil, and it must cover whatever 
you wish to fry. When fat boils it is quite still, leaves off moving or bubbling, and a thin blue smoke or 
vapor rises from it. Fat can be kept for a long time to fry in ; it should be strained after using, and it can 
be clarified often, provided it is not allowed to burn.”— (Edith Clarke.) 
After being cleaned and wiped perfectly dry, fish for frying should be rubbed over with flour, or dipped 
once or twice into egg and breadcrumbs, or passed through a regularly-made batter. Fry it in plenty of 
very hot oil or friture; drain it thoroughly from grease; sprinkle fine salt upon it, and serve it upon a 
damask napkin folded in a dish tastefully garnished; serve a sauce apart. Chopped onions are generally 
fried and served with fresh herrings. If a sufficient quantity of fat be employed, a good thick fish will not 
need more than ten minutes’s frying; smelts and such-like small fish are done in five minutes, or even less. 
Finely-shred herbs may be sprinkled over some sorts of fish, such as eels or mackerel, previously to frying 
them, but soles, or in short flatfish generally, should be only done with bread crumbs and egg, so as to send 
them to table looking of a clear golden yellow.”— (Georgiana Hill.) 
To fry fish in the Virginia style:—“ Choose middle-sized fish ; clean them, scale and wash them ; then 
with a very sharp penknife score them on the sides, but not very deep nor very close ; dredge them with 
flour; then fry them in oiled butter. When they are well done and brown serve them up garnished with fried 
parsley, and send up with them plain melted butter. This give; the fish its true flavor, and many, for that 
reason, prefer it to any other way of dressing.”— (Mrs. Smith.) 
To fry fish in the angler’s style :—“ Never put your fish in the pan till the fat is boiling hot. Always cut 
your pork small, and don’t try it out or otherwise cook it too fast, as it will lose much of its sweetness. Score 
the fish and roll them in flour before laying them in the sparkling fat. In using lard, a table-spoonful of salt 
to a pound is a fair average.”— (Genio C. Scott.) 
