The Possibilities of Long Island 
Fishing 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HAVE been very much surprised by 
the general dearth of knowledge 
relative to the fishing in and about 
Peconic Bays on Long Island, even the 
natives seem to be indifferent as to the 
great sport found in their waters, and 
it is my conviction that these waters 
are the best fishing grounds within a 
thousand miles of New York. 
These waters wind in and about the 
various islands and projections for 
about twenty-two miles and are directly 
connected with Gardner’s Bay and the 
Sound, and are really the first spawn- 
ing grounds coming from the Kast. 
They are largely protected against 
pollution and are constantly dredged 
to prepare the oyster beds. 
All kinds of food for the fish is found 
in and about these waters and I have 
caught sea-porgies as late as the middle 
of November. 
It has been suggested by one of your 
readers that a modification of this 
article by Mr. Fletcher in the Eve- 
ning World would be of some interest 
to your readers. 
The best place to get fish is at Green- 
port, where guides might be had at the 
Hotel Wyandank, but I would repeat 
that it is strongly advisable for the 
fishermen to bring their own tackle, 
which should consist of a fairly heavy 
Greenhart rod and moderate sized por- 
gie hooks and short leaders. 
R. LINCOLN GRAHAM, M.D. 
New York CITY 

Dr. Graham’s article follows: 
The writer has fished intensively in 
and about the waters of Peconic and 
Gardner’s Bays for many years and 
is confident that many would rejoice 
in learning of the splendid fishing in 
these inland waters. Permit me to 
briefly outline some of the induce- 
ments for frequenting this place of 
fishing. 
Weakfish usually appear in the 
upper Peconic Bays about April 15. 
Last year I caught a splendid mess 
off Jessup’s Island on Labor Day, 
some of the fish weighing fully ten 
pounds, showing that weakfish can 
be caught in and about these waters 
for almost five months of the year. 
Sea porgies made their appearance 
about the 10th of June, and the last 
mess of porgies I caught was about 
the 1st of November, in what we call 
the upper Middle Grounds, showing 
good porgie fishing as a rule for fully 
five months. 
Blackfish can be caught at Cleve- 
land Beach, the Ledge or at Green- 
hills twelve months in the year, some 
of these running as large as eight and 
nine pounds. The largest I ever 
caught of this variety was an eight- 
een-pounder, which I caught off the 
Big Light at Long Beach. 
Flounder fishing along the wakes 
of the oyster plants, where the drain 
from the oysters and scallops makes 
a splendid feeding ground, is without 
rival. Myself and three friends on 
one tide recently caught 400, some of 
them weighing as high as two and 
a half and three pounds. These 
waters are carefully protected against 
pollution by the intensive oystering 
that is being promoted, the constant 
raking and stirring up of the bottom 
affording almost unequaled feeding 
grounds for fish, and as the weaks 
and the porgies and the bass come 
into the harbor to spawn they usually 
remain all summer and late in the fall 
because of the feed. 
Weakfish, porgies and bass are 
best caught on the bottom, using a 
four-ounce sinker, a modest leader 
with two fair-sized porgie hooks, and 
as these fish are caught on the bot- 
tom a fairly heavy Greenhart rod, I 
have found to be the best. The old 
fishermen take a large slab of squid 
with a ten-ounce sinker and a heavy 
dropline and a couple of hooks that 
have been discarded from codfishing, 
with the result that they lose fully 20 
per cent. of the fish that they hook. 
On the other hand, with a small pad 
and a small hook the loss in landing 
the fish is practically nil. I have 
found that I would not lose one in ten, 
and because of the small pad having 
been swallowed not grabbed at, as we 
find when fishing on the surface with 
shrimp. The small pad and the small 
hook affords the proper tackle for the 
porgie and the bass, and in the shal- 
low water there is no gamier fish 
than the sea porgie. We frequently 
see them in these waters as high as 
five and six pounds. I have found 
the squids superior to the bloodworm 
and the shedder. 
The rule is to drift, provided the 
wind is not too strong, until we strike 
a school of either porgies or weaks 
and then try stationary fishing. Not 
infrequently do we catch a porgie on 
one hook and a weakfish on another, 
and it is not unusual to start up with 
one weak and hook two on coming up. 
R. L. GRAHAM, M. D. 
Another Friend of Nessmuk 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
] NOTICE you published in your last 
November issue my little suggestion 
about catching bull heads and hope it 
will prevent some pricked fingers. In 
the same named issue Mr. F. C. Wash- 
burn is undoubtedly correct as to his 
impression that the “Bacchus” Sears to 
whom he refers is “Nessmuk.” I have 
in my happy possession a letter to my- 
self written in 1884, headed “Wells- 
boro, Tioga Co., Pa.—Nessmuk to Hen- 
derson,” and signed “Geo. W. Sears, 
Wellsboro, Pa.’’ Nessmuk is the Patron 
Saint of the American outdoorsman as 
Izaak Walton is of the outdoorsman of 
England. I am glad you have a de- 
partment headed with his name. He 
was essentially a camper. I have for 
some time intended to send you a photo- 
graphic copy of my interesting and 
characteristic Nessmuk letter for repro- 
duction in your magazine as I thought 
it might be a curiosity to your readers. 
Simply putting it in type wouldn’t, it 
seems to me, be as interesting. 
HOWARD HENDERSON, 
Chicago, Ill. 

The joys of the supple rod and singing reel, 
