Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others Part 22

It is the smallest of the porgies, but one of the prettiest. It grows to six or eight inches in length. It is mentioned incidentally with the others of its family in order that it may be known to anglers who are so fortunate as to catch it and admire it. The same tackle and bait employed for the others are suitable. It is found usually in gra.s.sy situations.

CHAPTER XVIII

MISCELLANEOUS FISHES

THE LADY-FISH

(_Albula vulpes_)

_Albula vulpes._ The Lady-fish. Body rather elongate, little compressed, covered with rather small, brilliantly-silvery scales; head naked; snout conic, subquadrangular, shaped like the snout of a pig, and overlapping the small, inferior, horizontal mouth; head 3-3/4; depth 4; scales 9-71-7; D. 15; A.

8; maxillary rather strong, short, with a distinct supplemental bone, slipping under the membraneous edge of the very broad preorbital; premaxillaries short, not protractile; lateral margin of upper jaw formed by the maxillaries; both jaws, vomer and palatines, with bands of villiform teeth; broad patches of coa.r.s.e, blunt, paved teeth on the tongue behind and on the sphenoid and pterygoid bones; opercle moderate, firm; preopercle with a broad, flat, membraneous edge, which extends backward over the base of the opercle; gill membranes separate; no gular plate; a fold of skin across gill membranes, its free edge crenate; belly flattish, covered with ordinary scales, not carinate; eye large, with a bony ridge above it, and almost covered with an annular adipose eyelid.

The lady-fish, or bone-fish, is the only representative of the family _Albulidae_. It has long been known to science through the early voyagers to the southern coasts of America. It was first described by Marcgrave in his "History of Brazil," in 1648, and afterward by Catesby, in his "History of the Carolinas," in 1737, and named _vulpes_, or "fox," by Linnaeus, in 1758, from a specimen taken at the Bahamas.

It inhabits the sandy sh.o.r.es of all warm seas and is, perhaps, the most cosmopolitan of all game-fishes, being known from Asia, Arabia. North and South America, the Pacific Islands, etc. It is common on the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific in the United States, and is especially abundant in Florida waters, occasionally straying in summer as far north as Long Island.

The lady-fish is allied to the herring tribe. It has a long, gracefully-shaped body, nearly round, or but little compressed; its depth is a fourth of its length; it has a long head with a projecting, piglike snout, overlapping the small mouth, which is well armed with teeth; both jaws and the roof of the mouth in front have bands of brushlike teeth, with patches of coa.r.s.e, blunt, paved teeth on the back of the mouth and tongue. Its color is bluish green above, with metallic reflections; the sides are very bright and silvery, with faint streaks along the rows of scales; the belly is white, and it feeds on small fishes and crustaceans.

Its sp.a.w.ning habits are not well understood, though the young pa.s.s through a metamorphosis, being band-shaped, with very small head and loose, transparent tissues. I have found them abundant on the Gulf coast of Florida. The lady-fish grows to a length of from one to three feet, and to a weight of from one to twelve pounds, though it is usually taken from two to five pounds. It is a good food-fish, highly esteemed at Key West and in the Bermudas by those who know it best.

For its size it is one of the gamest fishes of the seacoast. When hooked it fights as much in the air as in the water, continually leaping above the surface like an animated silver shuttle, to which I likened it more than twenty years ago. It is now becoming better known to anglers who visit Florida in the winter season, who recognize in it much more enjoyable sport on light tackle than they can obtain with the heavy tools required for the tarpon and jewfish.

A black-ba.s.s rod, or the Little Giant rod of eight ounces, is light enough, as a heavier fish than the lady-fish is apt to be hooked. A good multiplying reel and fifty yards of braided linen line, size F, and Sproat hooks, No. 1 or 2, on gut snells, will be found eminently suitable. No sinker is needed, as the fis.h.i.+ng is done on the surface, though a small bra.s.s box-swivel may be used to connect the snell and line, as in black-ba.s.s fis.h.i.+ng. A leader is not necessary, but it may be used if thought best.

The bait may be a beach-flea, or a very small, silvery fish, as a sardine, pilchard, or mullet, though a small sh.e.l.l squid, or a trolling-spoon of the size of a nickel, with a single hook, may be employed in lieu of live bait, and is quite successful if kept in constant motion. The minnow is to be hooked through the lips and cast as in black-ba.s.s fis.h.i.+ng, reeling it in slowly on or near the surface.

The fis.h.i.+ng may be done from any convenient place near a pa.s.s or inlet on the flood tide. A sand-spit at the entrance, or a boat anch.o.r.ed just within the inlet, are desirable places, though good fis.h.i.+ng is sometimes available from the end of a pier in a tideway. Fine fis.h.i.+ng may also be had at other stages of the tide about offsh.o.r.e reefs and shoals. I have taken the lady-fish, with both fly and bait, in Biscayne Bay, in Cards and Barnes sounds, along the keys to Key West, and at nearly every inlet on the Gulf coast, as far north as Pa.s.s-a-Grille, above Tampa Bay, and usually found it a.s.sociated with the ten-pounder.

The lady-fish, when hooked, will probably astonish the angler who is attached to one for the first time, by its aerial gyrations and quick movements. But the rod must be held at an angle of forty-five degrees, so as to maintain a taut line, notwithstanding its constant leaping; for if any slack line is given, it is almost sure to shake out the hook. And as the leaps are made in such quick succession, the only safe plan is to keep the rod bent, either in giving or taking line, or when holding the fish on the strain of the rod.

The lady-fish will often take a gaudy black-ba.s.s fly, in which event a black-ba.s.s fly-rod or a heavy trout fly-rod will come handy, with corresponding tackle. A heavy braided linen line, size D, is better suited for salt water than the enamelled silk line, and will cast a fly nearly as well. The flies advised for the Spanish mackerel will answer as well for the lady-fish, though I have found the silver-doctor and coachman both very taking toward dusk, which is the most favorable time for fly-fis.h.i.+ng, though the first half of the flood tide and the last half of the ebb are usually both favorable times about the inlets.

Twenty years or more ago I called the attention of northern anglers to the lady-fish, or bone-fish, and the ten-pounder, or bony-fish, as game-fishes of high degree, and accorded equal praise to both species as to gameness. I have never been able to convince myself as to which is ent.i.tled to the palm; but they are both good enough, and comparisons are indeed odious as between them. I am glad to note that they are coming to the front and their merits at last recognized. Of late years northern anglers are having great sport with the lady-fish on Biscayne Bay; but judging from their communications in the sportsman's journals, they are confusing the lady-fish with the ten-pounder. This is easily accounted for, inasmuch as they are usually of about the same size, and have very much the same general appearance in form and bright silvery coloration; and moreover there is a confusion attending their vernacular names, as the lady-fish is sometimes known as bony-fish. It should be remembered that the lady-fish has an overhanging, piglike snout and larger scales, while the ten-pounder has a terminal mouth with the jaws about equal, and smaller scales. Moreover, the bony-fish, or ten-pounder, has a bony plate under the lower jaw, like the tarpon, which is absent in the lady-fish. Both are cosmopolitan, inhabiting the warm seas of both continents. They have been known to science for a century and a half, and have been described by many naturalists from different parts of the world. The current specific names were both bestowed by Linnaeus.

Catesby, in 1837, called the lady-fish (_Albula vulpes_) of the Bahamas "bone-fish," while Captain William Dampier, one of the early explorers, called the bony-fish (_Elops saurus_) of the Bahamas "ten-pounder." The fishermen of Key West usually know the lady-fish as bone-fish, and the ten-pounder as bony-fish. The best plan for anglers is to adopt the names lady-fish and ten-pounder for them, and relegate or ignore the names bone-fish, bony-fish, and skip-jack.

THE TEN-POUNDER

(_Elops saurus_)

_Elops saurus._ The Ten-pounder. Body elongate, covered with small, silvery scales; head 4-1/4; depth 6; eye 4, large; scales 12-120-13; D. 20; A. 13; dorsal fin slightly behind ventrals, its last rays short, depressible into a sheath of scales; a.n.a.l fin smaller, similarly depressible; pectoral and ventral fins moderate, each with a long, accessory scale; opercular bones thin, with expanded membraneous borders; a scaly occipital collar; gular plate 3 to 4 times as long as broad; pseudobranchiae large; lateral line straight, its tubes simple.

The ten-pounder, or bony-fish, belongs to the same family, _Elopidae_, as the tarpon, and both are allied to the herring tribe. The ten-pounder was first described by Linnaeus, in 1776, from specimens sent to him from South Carolina by Dr. Garden. He named it _saurus_, or "lizard," but there is nothing lizard-like about the ten-pounder. I imagine that Dr.

Garden sent the fish under the name of "lizard," from hearing it called by its Spanish name of "lisa," which is p.r.o.nounced much like lizard. The ten-pounder was mentioned by some of the old voyagers to the West Indies and Carolinas. Like the lady-fish, the ten-pounder is a cosmopolitan, existing in the warm seas of both hemispheres. In the United States it is common to the southern portions of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Gulf of Mexico.

In the general aspect and contour of its silvery body the ten-pounder has much the appearance of the lady-fish, and has been often confounded with it by anglers. Its body, however, is more slender than that of the lady-fish, with smaller scales and a very different head and mouth; the lady-fish has a piglike, overhanging snout, while the lower jaw of the ten-pounder projects slightly. The depth of the body of the ten-pounder is only about a sixth of its length, and the body is not much compressed, being nearly round. The head is long and pointed, with a very wide mouth, with upper and lower lips nearly equal, or terminal.

The eye is large, hence one of its names, big-eyed herring. There are many series of small and sharp cardlike teeth on the jaws, tongue, and roof of the mouth. There is a bony plate beneath the lower jaw.

The color on the back is greenish or bluish, the sides silvery and bright, and belly white; the top of the head is greenish, with bronze reflections; the cheeks have a golden l.u.s.tre; the lower fins are tinged with yellow, the others dusky.

Its habits are not unlike those of the lady-fish, and they often a.s.sociate. It feeds princ.i.p.ally on crustaceans and also on small fishes.

It frequents sandy shoals and banks in shallow water at high tide, also gra.s.sy situations where its food abounds. Its breeding habits are not well understood, though, like the lady-fish, its young pa.s.s through a larval form, and are ribbon-shaped. It grows to a length of two feet or more, and weighs several pounds, sometimes ten or more. It is quite bony, and is not considered a good food-fish, but excels as a game-fish, being equal to the lady-fish in this respect.

The same tackle as that recommended for its congener, the lady-fish, answers just as well for the ten-pounder, and it can be fished for in the same locations. It frequents shallow water on the gra.s.sy banks and sandy shoals rather more than the lady-fish, and can be sought there accordingly, as well as at the inlets when the tide is making.

Both the ten-pounder and the lady-fish are warm-water fishes. They are to be found in Biscayne Bay and along the neighboring keys during winter, and as the water becomes warmer they extend their range northward on both coasts. After the disastrous frosts that occurred during the winters of 1886 and 1895 in Florida, I saw windrows of dead ten-pounders, lady-fishes, and tarpon on the beaches about Charlotte Harbor. They had become chilled from the sudden lowering of the temperature. I have caught both the ten-pounder and lady-fish as far north as Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida, and Indian River Inlet on the east coast. My fis.h.i.+ng was mostly done from the points of inlets and pa.s.ses, on the flood tide, and usually with the artificial fly, in shallow water, the time and places mentioned being the most favorable for fly-fis.h.i.+ng. At other times I have fished on the shallow bars and gra.s.sy banks, using such crustaceans as fiddlers, beach-fleas, and shrimps for bait, alternated with small minnows. When beach-fleas are used a fly-rod is preferable and the hook should be smaller than where other bait is employed; No. 4 is about right, if of the Sproat or O'Shaughnessy pattern, they being of larger and stronger wire than other patterns. If beach-fleas are used with a bait-rod, a small sinker must be added to give weight to the cast.

The ten-pounder snaps at the bait or fly in the manner of most fishes, and is off immediately in a wild whirl, skimming through the water, if shallow, in a way to astonish the angler who hooks one for the first time. Then follows a series of brilliant leaps and aerial contortions that commands the admiration of the coldest-blooded fisher. The lady-fish, however, owing to the position of its mouth, being underneath its projecting snout, does not at first take the bait with the vim and snap of the ten-pounder, but apparently nibbles or mouths it for a while, but when hooked displays the same energy and desperate efforts to escape as its congener. The consistent angler may truly exclaim with Pope:--

"How happy could I be with either.

Were t'other dear charmer away."

THE SNOOK, OR ROVALLIA

(_Centropomus undecimalis_)

_Centropomus undecimalis._ The Snook. Body elongate, with elevated back and straight abdomen; head 3; depth 4; eye 7; scales 9-75-16; D. VIII-I, 10; A. III, 6; head depressed, pikelike, the lower jaw projecting; villiform teeth in bands on jaws, vomer, and palatines; tongue smooth; dorsal fins well separated; preorbital faintly serrated; subopercular flap extending nearly to dorsal fin; maxillary to middle of eye; gill-rakers 4 + 9.

The snook belongs to the family _Centropomidae_, which embraces a dozen or more species, most of which inhabit the West Indies and the southern Pacific coast, and are all good game-fishes. The snook was first described by Bloch from Jamaica, in 1792; he named it _undecimalis_, or "eleven," as the soft dorsal fin has eleven rays. The name snook was mentioned as the name of this fish by the early explorers, among whom was Captain William Dampier, who also mentioned several others, as "ten-pounders," "cavallies," "tarpoms," etc. Snook is derived from "snoek," the Dutch name for the pike, which it resembles slightly in the shape of the head, though it is more like the pike-perch in its structure and appearance. On the east coast of Florida this fish is known as the snook, and on the Gulf coast as rovallia, the latter name being a corruption of its Spanish name _robalo_, by which it is known in Havana. It is sometimes called sergeant-fish, from the black stripe along its sides. It is common along the sh.o.r.es of the Gulf of Mexico, from Texas to the West Indies, and is especially abundant in the bays and lagoons of both coasts of Florida, often ascending the rivers to fresh water.

It has a long, robust, and nearly round body, its depth being a fourth of its length; the back is slightly elevated and arched. The head is long and depressed, or flat, and is more than a third of the total length of the body; the mouth is large, with a projecting lower jaw; the gill-cover is very long; there are brushlike teeth on the jaws and the roof of the mouth, but no sharp or conical teeth as in the pike or pike-perch.

The color of the back is olive-green, the sides silvery, and the belly white; there is a distinct and very black stripe along the side, following the lateral line from the head to the caudal fin; the dorsal fins are dusky; the lower fins are yellowish.

The snook is a very voracious fish, feeding on fishes, crabs, and other crustaceans, and resorts to sandy shoals and gra.s.sy flats where its food is found. It grows to a length of two or three feet, and a weight of twenty or thirty pounds. It is a fair food-fish, though not held in much favor in Florida where so many better food-fishes are common. It is better flavored if skinned instead of scaled.

It is a strong, active game-fish, that, when hooked, starts off with a rush that is dangerous to light tackle, and its subsequent manoeuvres require very careful handling when it is of a large size. It has smashed many light rods in the hands of anglers who were not aware of its pugnacity. It will take any kind of natural bait, and rises well to the artificial fly.

A rather heavy black-ba.s.s rod or a light striped-ba.s.s rod is required for the large fish of the bays and estuaries, though ordinary black-ba.s.s tackle will answer for those of less weight at the mouths of streams, or in fresh water, to which it often resorts. A good multiplying reel and fifty yards of braided linen line are sufficient, though one hundred yards will not be amiss, as large fishes of other species are very apt to be hooked in Florida waters. Sproat or O'Shaughnessy hooks, Nos. 1-0 to 3-0, on heavy gut snells are required, with a bra.s.s box-swivel to connect the snell with the reel line; a sinker may be used or not, depending on the strength of the tide, though the fis.h.i.+ng is usually practised in quiet water, and not in the tideways.

A small fish, mullet or sardine, or fiddler-crab bait, will prove very enticing to the snook, though the minnow is better adapted for casting.

The fis.h.i.+ng is much like black-ba.s.s fis.h.i.+ng in fresh waters, and the snook takes the bait in its mouth in much the same way as a ba.s.s, starting off at once with a great commotion if near the surface. Its desperate and vigorous spurts and rushes are apt to put one's tackle in jeopardy if the fish is large, and it must be handled with caution and skill.

For fly-fis.h.i.+ng, a rod of nine or ten ounces is not too heavy where the fish run large. A heavy braided linen line, size D or E, is best for casting the fly in salt water. Black-ba.s.s flies of showy patterns, on hooks No. 1 or 2, as coachman, silver-doctor, polka, oriole, red ibis, professor, etc., will answer. The most favorable time is on the flood tide near the inlets, or toward evening if in quiet coves or lagoons.

The fly should be repeatedly cast and then allowed to sink a foot or two. If fis.h.i.+ng from a boat, it must be kept in the deeper water, and the casts made under the mangroves, or to the edges of sand-spits, shoals, or mud-flats, which abound in all bays on the west coast of Florida.

The snook is easily captured by trolling with hand-line and the spoon or minnow, though it is a questionable style of sport at best. Along the edges of shoals and mud-flats and over gra.s.sy banks the snook will be found at home. A landing-net should always be used for any kind of fis.h.i.+ng with the fly.

THE TRIPLE-TAIL

(_Lobotes surinamensis_)

_Lobotes surinamensis._ The Triple-tail. Body oblong, deep, compressed and elevated; head 3; depth 2; scales 47; head small; snout short; mouth moderate, oblique, with thick lips; profile of head concave; upper jaw very protractile; the lower, the longest; maxillary without supplemental bone; jaws with narrow bands of villiform teeth, in front of which is a row of larger conical teeth, directed backward; no teeth on vomer or palatines; preopercle strongly serrate; maxillary reaching middle of orbit; scales around eyes small, those on opercles large; eye small; small scales running up on the base of soft dorsal, a.n.a.l, and caudal fins; caudal rounded; D. XII, 15; A.