The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-08-09
Their Pursuit More Pleas
urab1e Than Any Other
Kind of Angling.
THE WAY TO CATCH THEN
The Long Islanders Always Troll,
While JerseYmen
"Chum."

aIe DltluG tuhu tncLo 10 Il Any Soh-nauAb8
short of happening swordflsh.
Bluetish are here today and gone to.
morrow-led. presumably, from place to
place by the supply OF smaller fish which
they prey upon. Usually they make
their appearances early In June along the
Jersey coast. Long before they make
their appearance here we hear from
them in the South. aud each
week they are caught at points
further up the coast. Our first ar
rivals are shipped from Jacksonville
Fla, and then they some In turn from
the various points at which our coastwise
steamers Lind. Norfolk is a great fish
shipping point in the spring, and we get
shad, veal fish and bluehsh from there
months before we mud any of these fish
in New jersey waters. In ordinary years.
bluet1sh appear ar the capes of the Della
ware n few weeks later Than at the low
est Virginia points. but this year they
varied their line of march and were lost
to view after visiting the Chesapeake.
They mex appeared Jour or five weeks
ago at Cape Cod. Martha's Vineyard and
Nantucket. aud since then seem to u
slowly worked westward through Long
Island Sound and along the south
shore of the island. 1t was not
uutll II uliuul VI IL AQutn tuAk buG
watchers at Fire Island irst caught y
glimpse of the savage fsn, dashing in
aud out aniong a shoal CT meuhaden,
chopping right and left and filling the
timii "bunkers" with conservation. Out
went the catboats and the trolls were
soon spinning through the water. News
of the catch was flashed over the wires,
and next day every captain" between
lslip aud Bath was taking biuefish as he
rugged up his lines and kept his weather
eye open for anglers from the city.
THE FISH r CONSIDERABLE.
The bluefish were considerate enough
to stay around for several days and some
splendid catches were made. In fact. 1t
is said that they are still flirting around
the waters adjacent to the eutrancs to
the harbor of New York aud that
there is no telling when or
where they may be found. One
certainty exists and that ls, in the
words of an old Cauarsie captatn:-"You
can't never tell wheny you're goin' 20 git
blneish till you git 'em. They've here
today and gone tomorrer, and you hain't
never sure of 'em till you'v got 'em In
the notion of the boat with yonr foot on
'em.o
The Long Island way Of Catching blue
fish is almost always by trolling from a
BLOCK tin or wood are traiied astern, and
the whole object Of the sailor fisherman
is to find a school OF bluefish and keep
track of it until he has caught all that
will bite. His watchful eyes quickly
detect the breaking water where the
menhaden ars skimming along just
under the serface. with q fish hawk or
two gracefully sailing overhead and oc-
cassionaly swoopina down TO bear away
q prize. The captain knows that If there
are any bluefish around they will be in
the ~neighborhood OF the menhaden ana
he sails to aud fro crossing and
recrossing the school and picking up
blushsh at every lack. 1t is exciting,
but hard work catching bluefish Ia this
manner. The tyro. with the stiff cotton
line between his thumb and fingers, feels
a shock which SINKS the line into his
flesh and makes him think that his arm
is coming out of It's socket at the shout
der. He rscovers his wits and hauls in
the line with all his strength. This is
no easy task with the boat making ten
miles an heur and the FISH trying TO 60
the other way with equal velocity. but
in a few minutes, II nothing parts, he
sees his prize close uuder the stern.
Here comes the critical moment. The
fish must be swung into the boat with
one sweep. If he strikes the stern in
all probability he will tear loose and
disappear. 1t is no easy matter to swing
a six or e~ight-pound bluefish into
ths cockpit, but there is q knwck abous 1t
which Is quickly learned. Once ia the
boat the fsn is comparatively safe. hut
look out for his razor1fike teeth wheu
unlocking him. This is no easy job.
This old fisherman seizes the struggling
fish between his knee aud holds him
firmly while ~dfslodg1ng the hook, or else
rorcibly snaps him off. tearing out tine
hook by a firt OF his wrist.
Four, six. aud even eight lines are
trolled behind the Long Island boats,
L and co.~a Marry nonfnofs.u n,crraa uwta,,
TWO or three fish are hooked at once, as
often occurs whom the fish are plentiful.
In this case there Is nothing to do blu.
pull In all OF the lines and d~isentanglt
them as quickly a. possible. At such
times there 10 always danger OF missing
the school, and a delay of this KIND is
always DIRE AIDED by the fishermen.
THE LONG ISLAND WAY EXCITING.
The Loug Island way of cascniux clue
fish Is more exciting than the New Jer.
sey method. On eur coast nearly all of
the b,ueash are caught by "chumming."
The fishermen go off shore IN their light
skiffs supplied with two big bask cts OF
menhaden aud asmal bait mill, which
is fastened TO a board. The mill, which
has been gsnerailT adopted for this pur-
pose, is the Enterprise meat cutter, az
iron cylinder containing u spiral blade
and four knives, which cut up the fish
and force iJ out through u number OF
notcc IN tno euu Vi ills apparatus. Luis
mill Ii fed with menhaden, and thu
ground up fish falls overheard. making
an oily path on the tide as it floats ava,
from the o This streak of oil and
Underground fish is known Ms q "slick, >
and rs 1t trends away over the water,
broadening out az 1t goes, the biuefish, II
there any around, follow it III
aud feed upon the small par
ticles. The fishermen bsit their
hooks with generous pieces of menhaden
and drop their lines overheard tosfioat
away on tho 'ssIfck.n Each man handles
two lines. aud il the fish ara at all abun-
dant they keep him busy. The biuefsh
come within d few yarNs of the boat aud
eagerly seize the lager pieces Of bait.
When q fish Is hooked it Is dragged In
without the loss OF 4 seco nd, snapped
from he hook, and the line goes GU
again with { new bait. n OF a secoud Is
wasted while the fish are biting, and nc
novices are allowed In the boats when Il
Is known that there ars biueish to be
caught. The fishermen at Seabright have
frequently been known TO refuse to talks
out amateurs at $40 q trip when bluefsh.
ing WAS good. They can catch 500 pounds
OF bluefsh ut such times, If not inter
Tered with IN any way, and the fish will
net them i've ceuts q pound.
CASTING II BLoCKTIN SQUID.
Several times every year opport unities
are Afforded for catching bIGef1sn from
the shore by casting the blocktiu aqufd.
At such Times the GREATEST excitement
prevsils at the points where the fish arr
sighted. III their efforts to escape Tn,
sluefish the inenhaden run into the surf
Their cruel enemies follow them closely,
a their presence Is quickly discovered