Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others Part 16

Smelt fis.h.i.+ng is a very popular pastime along the East Coast in the fall and winter, as it is at a time when not many other fishes are to be caught. In the inland lakes it is, as has just been mentioned, caught with hook and line through holes cut in the ice; but this is tame sport compared with fis.h.i.+ng in open water with very light tackle. The angler can utilize his trout fly or bait-rod, or if he prefers, a very light natural cane rod eight or ten feet long. A reel is not necessary. The line should be of the smallest size, linen or silk, though silk lines soon rot in salt water. A fine leader three or four feet long, with hooks Nos. 3 to 6, on single gut snells, are next in order. When the fish are swimming in schools near the surface, especially at night, a sinker need not be used; under other circ.u.mstances, and when the tide is strong, one of suitable weight should be added. The fis.h.i.+ng is usually best on the flood tide, and almost any kind of bait will answer; but shrimp is best, though sandworms, very small minnows, or even earthworms are useful. Given the proper time and place, and with tackle and bait in readiness, it only remains to cast the baited hook, retrieve the fish, and so on _ad infinitum_.

CHAPTER XIV

THE MACKEREL FAMILY

(_s...o...b..idae_)

The fishes of this family are all pelagic, and most of them are highly valued for food. They are characterized by an elongate body, more or less compressed; pointed head; large mouth; sharp teeth; two dorsal fins; the a.n.a.l and second dorsal fins are similar in shape and size, and both are followed by detached finlets; the caudal fin is widely forked or falcate, its pedicle very slender and with a sharp keel; scales small and smooth.

_s...o...b..romorus maculatus._ The Spanish Mackerel. Body elongate, covered with rudimentary scales, which do not form a distinct corselet; head pointed, short and small; mouth wide; strong teeth in jaws, knife-shaped; sandlike teeth on vomer and palatines; gill-rakers 2 + 11; caudal peduncle with a single keel; head 4-1/2; depth 4-1/2; D. XVII-18-IX; A. II-17-IX; eye 4-3/4; soft dorsal inserted in advance of a.n.a.l, somewhat; lateral line undulating, with about 175 pores; spots bronze.

_s...o...b..romorus regalis._ The Cero. Body rather elongate, its dorsal and ventral curves about equal; mouth large, maxillary reaching to below the eye; angle of preopercle produced backward; pectorals scaly; caudal less widely forked than _maculatus_; teeth triangular, compressed, about 40 in each jaw; pectorals scaly; spots and stripes brownish; head 4-1/4; depth 4-1/2; D. XVII-I, 15-VIII; A. II, 14-VIII.

_Sarda sarda._ The Bonito. Body elongate, moderately compressed, robust; head 3-3/4; depth 4; D. XXI-I, 13-VIII; A.

I, 13-VII; P. 10; scales small, those of the pectoral region forming a distinct corselet; teeth moderate, slightly compressed, about 40 in each jaw; mouth large, maxillary reaching beyond orbit; lateral line slightly undulating, with nowhere a decided curve.

THE SPANISH MACKEREL

(_s...o...b..romorus maculatus_)

The Spanish mackerel was first described by Dr. Mitchill, in 1815, from the vicinity of New York. He named it _maculatus_, or "spotted," owing to the large bronze spots on its sides.

It is common to the southern portions of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Gulf of Mexico, ranging in summer as far north as Cape Cod, and is one of the trimmest and most graceful fishes known, as well as one of the most beautiful both in form and coloration. It is especially adapted for rapid and sustained motion. Its long, graceful, and elliptical body is four times its depth. The head is as long as the depth of the body, with a large mouth, and sharp, lancet-shaped teeth in both jaws. It has two dorsal fins; the second dorsal and a.n.a.l fins are nearly opposite each other, are similar in outline, and are each followed by nine detached finlets; the caudal fin is widely forked, the lobes being long and pointed or crescent-shaped. Its color is silvery, bluish or greenish above, paling to white on the belly, with iridescent reflections; the sides are dotted with some thirty bronze or golden spots, a fourth of an inch or more in diameter; the first dorsal fin is dark in front, whitish behind; the second dorsal is yellowish; the a.n.a.l fin is pale; the pectoral fin is yellow, bordered with black; the caudal fin is dusky.

The Spanish mackerel is gregarious and migratory, swimming in large schools, and feeding at the surface on pilchards, anchovies, and sardines in Florida, and on silversides and menhaden in northern waters.

When feeding, the schools are constantly leaping above the surface, and the flas.h.i.+ng of their silvery forms in the bright sunlight is a beautiful and inspiriting sight, enhanced by the flocks of gulls and terns whirling and darting above the schools, eager for such stray morsels and fragments as they are able to seize. In the Gulf of Mexico it often feeds in company with the salt-water trout, and in northern waters with the bluefish and weakfish.

It is a fish of the warm seas, approaching the sh.o.r.es for sp.a.w.ning and feeding when the temperature becomes suitable. It appears on the Gulf coast of Florida in March and April, though I have observed it as early as January in forward seasons. Its advent on the Atlantic coast is later, progressing gradually northward, reaching the vicinity of New York in July and August, and disappearing in October or November. Its breeding season in the Gulf of Mexico is in the early spring, and as late as August or September at the northern extent of its range. Its sp.a.w.ning may cover a period of many weeks, as the fish do not all mature at one and the same time. The eggs are quite small, about twenty-five to the inch, float at the surface, and hatch in a single day. The newly hatched fry are very small, about the tenth of an inch long, but in a year will have attained a length of six inches. The average weight of a mature fish is from two to four pounds, rarely exceeding six or eight pounds.

The Spanish mackerel is held in the highest esteem as a food-fish, being considered one of the very best, second only to the pompano of the Gulf or the whitefish of the Great Lakes. It has a mackerel flavor, but one peculiarly its own for richness and sapidity of savor. It is a game-fish of high degree, and worthy of the angler's highest regard. Its manner of fighting, when hooked, is mostly on the surface of the water, darting here and there with dazzling rapidity, in straight and curving lines, leaping into air, and bounding over the water with a velocity and nimbleness that is difficult to follow with the eye in the bright sunlight.

In northern waters it is usually taken by trolling with a small mother-of-pearl squid, or one of block tin, using a long hand-line, as the fish is rather shy and difficult to approach with a boat. In Florida, however, great sport can be had with a light rod, both in fly-fis.h.i.+ng and bait-fis.h.i.+ng, from the sand-spits at the entrance to deep inlets, and from the long piers and wharves that extend to deep water. The angling is done in March and April, when the fish are running into the bays in great schools on the flood tide, often in company with the salt-water trout.

A black-ba.s.s or trout fly-rod of seven or eight ounces is very suitable for fly-fis.h.i.+ng, with a click reel and a braided linen line of pretty large size, say D or E, in order to give weight enough for casting. The enamelled silk line is, of course, better, but it does not last long in salt water. Any bright or gaudy fly will answer, on hooks Nos. 1 to 3, though yellowish or grayish flies are perhaps more attractive. A single fly only should be used, with a three or four foot leader. Black-ba.s.s rods and tackle are just right for bait-fis.h.i.+ng for the Spanish mackerel, except that a braided linen line, and not a silk line, should be used for reasons just given. The best bait is a small, bright fish, three or four inches long, either mullet or anchovy, hooked through the lips. A small pearl squid, or a very small trolling-spoon or spinner, may be used instead, but the minnow is far and away the most attractive lure.

The bait is cast as far as possible toward the school as it is running past the point of an inlet or the end of a pier, and reeled in slowly, but rapidly enough to keep the bait on or near the surface, no sinker being employed. If the fis.h.i.+ng is done from a pier, a very long-handled landing-net must be provided. The best plan is to fish from a small boat moored to the pier, as the angler is not so likely to be seen by the fish, and they are more easily landed. The same method is pursued in fly-fis.h.i.+ng in the general features, except that the fly is allowed to sink after fluttering it awhile on the surface; no other special suggestions are needed. I have found the following flies useful: gray drake, green drake, red ibis, oriole, professor, and silver doctor, in black-ba.s.s patterns, on hooks Nos. 1 to 3.

THE CERO

(_s...o...b..romorus regalis_)

The cero, or sierra, was described by Bloch, in 1795, from a drawing of a specimen from the West Indies, by Plumier. He named it _regalis_, meaning "royal" or "regal." It belongs to the West Indian fauna of fishes, and is common from Florida to Brazil. Occasionally it strays in the summer as far north as Ma.s.sachusetts. It is closely allied to the Spanish mackerel, and resembles it in form, but differs very much in coloration and size, being more sombre and much larger. Its color is brownish on the back, with silvery sides and belly; it is marked with two dusky longitudinal stripes, and several rows of dark spots, not bronze or golden as in the Spanish mackerel.

I have met with the cero only along the Florida reefs and keys. It does not swim in such large schools as the Spanish mackerel, and does not accompany it in its wanderings into the bays or along the sh.o.r.es, but seeks the same localities, and is of similar habits, as the kingfish-mackerel. It feeds entirely on fishes. Its breeding habits have not been studied, though they are doubtless not unlike those of the Spanish mackerel, except as to the locality and season of depositing its eggs. Its usual weight is five or six pounds, though it sometimes grows to five feet in length and twenty pounds or more in weight.

I have taken it with bone and block-tin squids, trolling from a yacht, and also from an anch.o.r.ed boat with rod and line, by casting mullet or sardines for bait. A striped-ba.s.s rod and tackle are suitable, as it is a strong and powerful fish, making extraordinary leaps when hooked. For its weight I know of no gamer fish, but my experience in rod-fis.h.i.+ng has been somewhat limited, being confined to the capture of half a dozen fish.

I was once yachting along the Florida keys, and while anch.o.r.ed near Bahia Honda I put off in the dinghy to cast mullet bait for cero and kingfish (_s...o...b..romorus cavalla_). The latter is a near relative of the cero, and they resemble each other so closely that it is often difficult to distinguish between them. The kingfish is rather more slender, the adult fish being of a uniform slaty hue, usually without spots or markings of any kind, and grows to a larger size, often to fifty pounds or more. It is fully described in another volume of this series.

On the occasion referred to I captured a number of kingfish and two ceros of about the same relative weight, from eight to ten pounds. The conditions were quite favorable to compare their gameness, but I was unable to perceive any difference in this respect. Both fish took the bait with a rush, and when hooked exhibited game qualities of the highest order, leaping continuously and to a height of five or six feet.

Their swift rushes, as they cut through the water with incredible swiftness, and for which they are especially built, were very trying to my light striped-ba.s.s rod. I lost a number of fish that shook out the hook when leaping. I used the Sproat bend, No. 7-0, but 5-0 would be large enough for the average-sized cero. My line was a braided linen, size E, to which the snelled hook was attached by a small bra.s.s box-swivel; but k.n.o.bbed hooks, if they can be obtained of suitable size, are to be preferred.

[Ill.u.s.tration THE BONITO]

[_Sarda sarda_]

[Ill.u.s.tration THE n.i.g.g.e.r-FISH]

[_Bodia.n.u.s fulvus_]

[Ill.u.s.tration THE POMPANO]

[_Trachinotus carolinus_]

The market fishermen of Key West troll for kingfish and cero in their schooner smacks, using coa.r.s.e hand-laid cotton lines, and codfish or other large hooks as mentioned. The bait is usually a piece of white bacon-rind, cut in an elliptical shape to resemble a fish, and strung along the shank of the hook, and fastened at the top by a piece of fine copper wire. This rude device is very successful, as they take hundreds of fish in a few days, of a size running from ten to fifty pounds. The cero and the kingfish are favorite food-fishes in Key West, where large quant.i.ties are consumed; and years ago many were carried to Havana by the smacks, until a prohibitive duty was imposed by the Spanish governor-general, in order to favor Spanish fishermen. Under the changed conditions that now exist in Cuba this trade will doubtless be resumed.

Both the cero and kingfish are excellent food-fishes, with a flavor much like that of the Spanish mackerel, but more p.r.o.nounced,--that is, not so delicate and delicious, but more pungent.

Northern anglers who go to Florida in quest of the tarpon will find in the cero and kingfish game-fishes of great merit on light tackle.

THE BONITO

(_Sarda sarda_)

The bonito is a very handsome and gamy fish belonging to the mackerel family. It was named _sarda_ by Bloch, in 1793, from its being taken in the vicinity of Sardinia. It inhabits both coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. It is not uncommon from the region of Cape Cod southward to Florida and the West Indies, where it is more abundant.

It has a long, graceful body, nearly round, its depth a fourth of its length. It is elliptical in outline, tapering to a very slender caudal pedicle, which is strongly keeled. The mouth is large, with strong, conical teeth. The caudal fin is deeply forked, or swallow-like. Its color is dark steel-blue above, silvery below, with white belly. There are numerous dark oblique stripes running from the back downward and forward, by which it is easily recognized. The ventral fins are whitish, the other fins are bluish black.

The bonito is a pelagic fish, approaching the sh.o.r.es in search of food, which consists of small fishes almost entirely. It grows to a length of three or four feet, though it is usually taken of ten or twelve pounds in weight. It does not rank high as a food-fish, having rather dark flesh of a strong mackerel flavor, rather too pungent to be agreeable, but it is liked generally by sailors. There is another fish of the Atlantic coast (_Gymnosarda pelamis_), of the mackerel family, that is known as the oceanic bonito. It may be distinguished by its stripes being horizontal, instead of oblique; it is rather rare.

The bonito is taken only by trolling with a small fish for bait, or a block-tin, bone, or sh.e.l.l squid, from a sailing vessel, and with bluefish tackle. It is frequently caught by the Key West fishermen when trolling for kingfish with a bait of bacon-rind. It is a powerful fish, and withal a very game one, being a swift swimmer, and must be handled very carefully when hooked. The line should be a heavy one of braided linen or cotton, and a foot or two of bra.s.s or copper wire should be used as a snell to withstand its sharp and numerous teeth. A Sproat or O'Shaughnessy hook, No. 7-0, is about right when bait is used, and one of similar size with artificial squids, or spinners.

I was once trolling in the vicinity of the Dry Tortugas, and in a short time took four bonitos of about twelve pounds each. As the yacht was going at a spanking rate with a beam wind, the strain on the line was tremendous, and in each case the vessel had to be luffed up into the wind to enable me to land them. As one fish was more than enough for the crew, and as I had occasion to land at Fort Jefferson, on Garden Key, I resolved to donate the others to the garrison of the fortress. On going ash.o.r.e I found the "garrison" to consist of one man, the corporal in charge of the property. He said he did not think he alone could get away with the fish, but as the lighthouse keeper of the fort would return from Loggerhead Key in the afternoon, he thought that they, together with his dog, might manage to dispose of them. Afterward he informed me that he and the light-keeper had finished one bonito, and the dog, whose name was Bonaparte, had made way with the others, or as he expressed it: "Bone eet two," and said this without any intent to pun on bon-i-to; he thought that I was amused at the capacity of Bonaparte as an ichthyophagist, being unconscious of his play on the words which caused my merriment.

CHAPTER XV

THE GROUPER FAMILY

(_Serranidae_)

The fishes of this family are characterized by an oblong body, more or less compressed, covered with adherent scales of moderate or small size, which are usually ctenoid; the dorsal and ventral outlines do not usually correspond; premaxillaries protractile; teeth all conical or pointed, in bands, present on jaws, vomer, and palatines; pseudobranchiae large; gill-membranes separate, free from isthmus; cheeks and opercles scaly; preopercle usually serrate; opercle ending in one or two flat spines; lateral line not extending on the caudal fin; lower pharyngeals narrow, with pointed teeth; gill-rakers armed with teeth.

_Mycteroperca microlepis._ The Gag. Body comparatively elongate and compressed; head 2-1/2; depth 3-1/2; eye 6; D. XI, 16 to 19; A. III, 11; scales 24-140-50; pores about 90; dorsal fin single, its spines slender and weak; head long and pointed; mouth large, the maxillary reaching beyond the eye; teeth in narrow bands, each jaw with two canines; gill-rakers few, 12 on lower part of anterior arch; scales very small, chiefly cycloid; preopercle with a shallow emargination above the angle, with radiating serrae; caudal lunate; lower jaw projecting.