Fes. 10, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
229 

taking and weighing of this immense fish. Dur- 
ing the same winter I helped capture another on 
a shark line at Little Gasparilla Inlet that 
weighed fully 300 pounds. These fishes were 
seven feet long and of about the same girth at 
the pectoral fin. 
“One of the best places I know of for jewfish 
of moderate weights is at Gordon’s Pass, three 
miles below Naples, on the south shore of the 
The portions of the menhaden left, after cutting 
off the baits, are chopped up and thrown into 
the water to ‘chum’ the bass by the oily ‘slick’ it 
occasions on the surface of the water, which is 
quite attractive to the fish. 
“The bait is then cast from the shore or 
‘stands’ from 50 to 100 yards out into the surf, 
which procedure can be followed exactly in 
Florida, wherever the bass may be found in suffi- 

THE RED 
pass, where the bank is steep and rocky and the 
water deepest. A similar situation, though on 
the northern side of the inlet, is at Little Gas- 
parilla, and other good points for jewfish are on 
the south shores of Bocilla and Stump Passes, 
where the banks are wooded and steep and the 
water deep.” 
THe Strep Bass (Roccus lineatus).—The 
striped bass is known on the southern coast of 
the United States, from New Jersey southward, 
as rock or rockfish. The striped bass ranges 
along the entire Atlantic coast from the St. Law- 
rence to the Gulf of Mexico, everywhere enter- 
ing rivers. 
“The methods of fishing for the striped bass 
vary with its size. The ‘Jumbos’ of from 20 to 60 
SNAPPER. 
cient numbers, except that mullet bait can be 
substituted for menhaden. 
“Striped bass weighing from 2 to 1o pounds 
are taken in the estuaries and lower parts of 
streams with such baits as shrimps, sand worms, 
shedder or ‘peeler’ crabs, squids, soft clams, 
young eels, etc., and much lighter rods and tackle 
can be employed. ‘The bass will also rise to a 
gaudy fly in such situations.” 

A Surfeit of Bluefishing. 
_ SOME years ago I visited Siasconsett, on the 
island of Nantucket. I had not started out on a 
fishing trip so took no tackle of any kind with me. 

THE SEA CATFISH. 
pounds are taken on the New England coast from 
Gay Head to Montauk Point with menhaden bait. 
This is the top notch of striped bass fishing, re- 
quiring strong and excellent tools. The rod 
should be eight or nine feet long, of ash and 
lancewood, natural bamboo or split-bamboo, and 
should weigh from 10 to 16 ounces, according to 
the material of construction. The reel should be 
a multiplyer of Jarge size and excellent workman- 
ship; the best, in fact, that can be purchased, cap- 
able of holding 600 feet of 12 to 15-thread line. 
The best hook is the knobbed Sproat or knobbed 
O’Shaughnessy, from 6-0 to 8-0. The hook is 
affixed to the line by two or three half hitches. 
The bait is cut from the posterior half of a men- 
haden and doubled around the shank of the hook, 
fleshy side out, witha half-hitch or two of the line 
around its upper portion to retain it in place. 
The diversions of ’Sconsett were limited to bath- 
ing and three meals a day until I decided to spend 
a few hours with one of the local fishermen. 
I arranged with him to take me out in his boat 
and let me try the bluefish. The surf was run- 
ning fairly well, but by deft management the dory 
was thrust into a receding wave and with some 
quick work at the oars we were out of harm’s 
way into smoother waters where we anchored. 
| had never thrown a squid before, but after a 
trial or two found that I could do so fairly well, 
anyway vood enough for all practical purposes, as 
far as the fish were concerned. So swinging the 
eelskin-swathed lure around my-head I let fly as 
one would when throwing a lariat; and when the 
lure struck the water I at once began to recover 
the line, hand over hand. Rarely had more than 
a few feet of line been drawn in before the strike 
came with no uncertain force. Hand over hand 
the line was taken in, the great voracious fish 
plunging from right to left until, with a final 
haul, he came floundering into the boat. 
Great was the luck that day, for if I remember 
correctly, no cast was fruitless. It must have 
been my good fortune to have fallen in with a 
school. I know that the sport soon began to take 
on the aspect to physical labor. The bluefish line 
began to cut my hands, my arms and back began 
to feel the continuous strain, and yet the flapping 
fish around the bottom of the boat showed that 
my emotions were not in vain. But enough of 
anything is enough, even of bluefishing, and the 
time came when I told the boatman that I thought 
it only fair to leave a few fish for the next one 
and to row in. 
Our boat, because of the many fish, rested lower 
in the water and seemed less buoyant than when 
we started out, and I was somewhat solicitous as 
to whether we would make the shore through the 
surf or capsize and lose our fish and have to swim 
for it. But the landing of the boat was up to the 
oarsman, and he succeeded in as safely riding the 
wave inward as he had outward, and we made 
the beach without mishap. 
I have often thought that I would have liked 
to have had a rod and line on that particular day. 
The fish were plentiful and in a hungry mood, 
and no doubt I would have had the rod and line 
taxed to the utmost. It was a good day for blue- 
fish, that I can testify to. 
CHARLES CRISTADORO. 
A Tough Shark. 
THIS incident of fishing from the ocean pier at 
Palm Beach is related by a correspondent of the 
Florida Times-Union: 
“One need not go beyond the pier for excite- 
ment, as was recently proved. One of the most 
interesting episodes of the season occurred there 
on Thursday last. Both Mr. Pullman and the 
superintendent of the pier had drawn in good- 
sized amberjacks, one of which was rehooked and 
allowed to play in the waters beneath the pier 
as a decoy to other fish. Presently, from out of 
the briny depths, there appeared a giant hammer- 
head shark, fully thirteen feet long. He was on 
conquest bent, evidently, being possessed of a 
good appetite and thinking a fine dinner was 
awaiting his acceptance. Imagine his surprise as 
he was about to grasp his prey to see it disap- 
pear into the blue ether above, at the same time 
he received a rude shock in the form of a harpoon 
in his back. He fled, drawing the long line after 
him. When he had reached its limit he tugged 
so vigorously that he freed himself from the iron 
grasp. One would naturally think this experience 
would have satisfied Mr. Shark. Far from it. 
He immediately returned to his prospective din- 
ner, only to have it vanish in the former tantaliz- 
ing manner. This time he was caught by a dou- 
ble-pronged gaff, which held him while a 36-cali- 
ber revolver was discharged six times into his 
head. Again he tore himself away, only to return 
to his point of attack. This was repeated fully a 
dozen times. At each recurrence the huge crea- 
ture: received a wound sufficient to daunt the 
courage of a less plucky fellow. 
“In the meantime a crowd of over 200 people 
had collected to watch the sport. Whether the 
shark was convinced that the amberjack was the 
cause of all his troubles, and he was determined 
to ‘have it out’ with him at all hazards, or 
whether the fish appetite is so abnormally fierce 
as to surmount all other sensations, the fact re- 
mains that the monster seemed almost oblivious 
to his injuries and was moved from his purpose 
only by the disappearance of the object of his de- 
sires. When he had satisfied himself that this 
was the case, he philosophically turned his atten- 
tion to lesser but more attainable joys, in the 
form of bait on Mr. Cauldwell’s line. This re- 
doubtable fisherman had recently had a victory 
over a nine-foot shark, and exulted in the possi- 
bility of adding to his laurels. The fates, how- 
ever, decreed otherwise, as, after allowing him- 
self to be ‘played with’ until exhaustion would 
seem the only result, he again broke away and 
disappeared, this time not to return, although 
lines are still awaiting that possibility.” 
