648 
FORES T 
AND STREAM 
November, 1918 
THE DELECTABLE AND GAMY SNAPPER 
THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT THAT THE SNAPPER WHEN FULLY CONSIDERED 
IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FISH WHICH VISITS OUR TIDAL WATERS 
By LEONARD HULIT, Associate Editor of FOREST AND STREAM 
I N writing of this fish it has become 
necessary for obvious reasons to treat 
it entirely separate from its parent; for 
years this has been the custom when dis¬ 
cussing its merits and in the tributes which 
have been paid it by the ablest of pens. 
It is the offspring of the bluefish and 
early in life it makes manifest its propen¬ 
sities, and furnishes delight to thousands 
of people of all ages, and in all walks of 
life. It is well known on all the tidal 
streams of the middle Atlantic states and 
is eagerly sought on account of its supreme 
game qualities as well as its delectability 
on the table. 
For years many held that the snapper 
was a distinct variety of fish and never 
reached a size of much importance as a 
market fish. Even within the past twenty 
years I have heard the subject discussed 
with warmth, and firmly held by those 
who should have been fully aware of its 
family relations, that it was not the pro¬ 
geny of the well-known bluefish, but like 
so many of the curious facts of fish life 
the logical view is now accepted by nearly 
all who are familiar with this fish. 
There is but little doubt that the snap¬ 
per when fully considered is the most im¬ 
portant fish which visits our waters, and 
its welfare should be guarded with the 
most zealous legislation. While, justly, 
every safeguard has been thrown about 
the trout and other varieties of fish which 
furnish but little food when considered in 
that light, laws have never been enacted 
looking to the conservation of this most 
valuable commodity. It is the shameful 
destruction of this species by the “pound 
net" which I have in mind. There is no 
fish which has been so ruthlessly destroyed 
The nets are set directly in the highway 
of these migrants as they crowd along 
shore to escape the larger fish which feed 
on them, so they are forced into the nets 
and are destroyed in untold millions. It 
was no unusual thing in past years to see 
as much as one hundred barrels of these 
immature fish in a net at a single lift. Bear 
in mind that if allowed to attain their nor¬ 
mal growth in two years these same fin- 
gerlings would have represented the five 
and six-pound fish of dealers, then con¬ 
sider the great number of these same nets 
stretching out from all favorable points 
along the seaboard, and the wanton waste 
of one of our most valuable species of 
sea food may be imagined better than de¬ 
scribed. Speedy protection is needed. 
T HE growth of the snapper is a phe¬ 
nomenon of nature. Hatched as they 
undoubtedly are well at sea early in 
summer, they reach the coast in the latter 
part of July and at once enter the rivers 
and bays of all the Middle Atlantic states 
simultaneously. They are about three 
inches in length on arrival and at once 
take up the life which they follow with¬ 
out variation to the time of their final tak¬ 
ing off, that of continual feeding. It has 
been remarked by careful observers that 
the fish doubles its size each month of its 
early existence; while this may be ques¬ 
tioned literally, still it is not as much of 
an exaggeration as some fish stories which 
are commonly accepted. 
Several years since Shark river in New 
Jersey, which it properly speaking but an 
arm of the sea, became closed during, 
an August storm by having an immense 
sand bar thrown across its mouth and was 
not opened until the following November. 
This gave those interested a full opportu¬ 
nity to watch the growth of this fish; 
these ranged in August from four to five 
inches, but at the time of the opening of 
the inlet in November they had attained 
the length of from twelve to fourteen 
inches and a weight of from one to one 
and a quarter pounds, thousands of them 
being taken of the latter size. If weather 
conditions hold good they will stay in in¬ 
land waters until well into October, when 
they pass out of the inlets on their way to 
that mysterious retreat usually termed 
“southern waters," and it is at this migra¬ 
tion that the wanton destruction by the 
pound nets is repeated. 
D URING its stay in inland waters it 
affords sport to untold thousands of 
people, every age and both sexes 
paying it homage as it is a bold and free 
biter. Every day the docks and boat land¬ 
ings along the river fronts are lined with 
enthusiasts with all sorts of tackle plying 
the water in quest of their favorite. Long 
bamboo poles are whipping the air as the 
baited hook is swung in and amid shouts 
of joy the hapless fish is yanked out. This 
is one element of the sport, but it is not 
the class which yields the enjoyment per¬ 
taining to the true angling spirit; that can 
only be had by using the same care and 
thought as is centered on the more aristo¬ 
cratic trout equipment. One might as well 
expect to get soulful music from a violin 
strung with wrapping twine as to get the 
essence of delight from angling, with de¬ 
vices correspondingly crude. 
When September is well advanced and 
on a day when the sun is not too bright, 
the condition may be regarded as favor¬ 
able. And now as to the tackle, for upon 
this item the very essence of the pastitme 
depends. I will describe a rod which I 
had built for this purpose. It is six feet 
eight inches in length and of a slightly 
heavier build than an ordinary trout rod. 
Its shorter length makes it slightly stiffer 
and in a tideway that is a very desirable 
quality. The butt section is of lance wood, 
very light in caliber. The tip of six strip 
bamboo, made to balance with the butt. 
The hand piece ten inches in length, cord 
whipped, and all mounted in German, or 
as it is now called, Liberty silver. Length 
of finished butt, two feet ten inches; length 
of tip over all, three feet ten inches. This 
makes the nicest balanced rod of its kind 
which I ever took in my hand and works 
marvels with the snapper and incidentally 
the perch. 
I use a small rubber and German silver 
reel of good grade and what is termed 
six thread special line. This is very fine 
and has a diameter only little more than 
a linen sewing thread, but it is of extreme 
strength. At this point it may be well to 
note that silk lines are of no use in this 
class of work, as salt water destroys the 
life of the silk at once and the enameled 
ones are worse than useless. While the 
following is good for all lines used in salt 
water it applies particularly to the delicate 
line I am describing. Have a small cake 
of paraffine wax at hand when in from 
your trip and run say fifty feet of the line 
through this, drawing the line between 
thumb and wax two or three times while 
the line is yet slightly damp, this lays all 
the fibres of the linen together and will 
double the life of the end of the line 
which gets the greatest use. 
The hook is ringed Carlisle 2-0 in size, 
into the ring of which I fasten a six-inch 
section of hair wire with a small swivel 
at the end to secure the line. The wire is 
an absolute necessity as the teeth of the 
snapper will cut the gut-snelled hooks free 
as easily as a knife. 
For a float I secured two long bottle 
corks and having first cemented the ends 
together, passed a small piece of bamboo 
through their length; then with a very 
sharp knife I shaved them down, using 
sandpaper to smooth the work, until the 
greatest diameter was not much greater 
than a stout lead pencil. This gave me a 
float which will carry the tackle and a 
split shot sinker. Its chief charm, how¬ 
ever, lies in the fact that it is quite buoy¬ 
ant, yet it offers little resistance when the 
strike is made with the light rod as de¬ 
scribed. Such is not the case when the 
more cumbersome floats are used. My 
light float passes easily through the water 
and the spring of the rod goes directly to 
the fish, greatly increasing the sport. 
L IKE his progenitor the bluefish, the 
snapper is a positive “free lance” and 
roves the waters continually, and the 
fact that he is found in a certain place to¬ 
day may be no argument of success at 
that spot on the morrow. There are, how¬ 
ever, locations where he may be looked 
for with a greater degree of confidence 
than at others. At the points of sand bars 
or around some sunken objects where the 
water swirls in eddies are both good spots 
to try out for the game. 
Like the bonito these fish are attracted 
by scent and will follow a trail through 
the water as accurately and persistently as 
a hound will follow a woodland trail. I 
