Bass, Pike, Perch, and OthersHenshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Science
Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others
Henshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Fishes; Fishing
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 fishing was mostly done from the points of inlets
and passes, on the flood tide, and usually with the artificial fly, in
shallow water, the time and places mentioned being the most favorable
for fly-fishing. At other times I have fished on the shallow bars and
grassy 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 aërial 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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