162 
AMERICAN FISHES . 
beach, dragging his prize after him to the shore. This is practiced every¬ 
where on exposed sand beaches, such as are found at Montauk, Monomoy, 
Newport, and Barnegat. 
Other anglers prefer to use a light rod and an artificial minnow from a 
stationary skiff near where Bluefish are breaking, or to fish with shrimp 
bait from the wharves in quiet bays where the young “snappers,” six 
to ten inches in length, abound. I have seen this kind of fishing at 
various points, from the mouth of the Florida St. Johns to Nantucket. 
The Bluefish has also an important rank among the commercial species. 
The wholesale dealers of New York city handle nearly 4,000,000 pounds 
annually. The yearly consumption of Bluefish probably does not fall 
much below 8,000,000 pounds, valued at $500,000. The markets are 
supplied, for the most part, from three sources. Large quantities are taken 
in the weirs, forty or more in number, planted on the northern and 
southern shores of Cape Cod, in Buzzard’s Bay, Martha’s Vineyard, Nar- 
ragansett Bay, Peconic Bay, and at Block Island. The yield of these is 
estimated at 1,300,000 pounds. Gill-nets on the southern New England 
coast are supposed to take about 3,000,000. Enormous quantities are also 
obtained by line fishermen about Hyannis, Edgartown, Nantucket, and 
Eastham, and on the shores of Long Island and New Jersey. 
On the 19th of August, 1874, I saw 12,000 taken from the long pound 
on the west shore of Block Island. 
The line-fishery is probably not less productive than gill-netting. In 
1875, we were cruising about Martha’s Vineyard in the Fish Commission 
yacht “Mollie.” Off Cape Pogue we noticed at least thirty cat-boats 
drailing for Bluefish. These boats were about twenty feet in length, 
square-sterned and well housed over. Each carried three lines, one at the 
stern and two at the end of long rods projecting over each quarter. When 
we anchored at dusk in Edgartown harbor, these boats were coming in, 
dropping alongside of a New York market boat, which lay at the wharf. 
The bright lantern under the deck awning, the black forms of the fisher¬ 
men, the busy changing of the little sails, the eager voices of bargaining, 
gave an impression of brisk trade. The same scene is repeated day after 
day, from July to October, in scores of New England seaport towns. 
