Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-19
BONITAS AND BLUES.
SPORT WITH THE FISHERMEN OF
BARNEGAT BAY.
Parade Of Yachts In the Narrow inlet.
You Don't Always Get En- In After
They Take the Hook The Bonita Makes


You find your particular Graft, step on
board, your captain takes the helm,
| friendly captain on the wharf-all the
male inhabitants of the place are captains
-shoyes her off, and away you go. 1t is
Z O'Clock in the morning. The air has the
bracing freshness of the new day. The
sun shines with that soft warmth which IS
SO gratifying to the senses and so unpro-
phetic of the heat that is to develop later
There is just breeze enough to fill the sail
and send your trim little vessel merrlly
over the ripping water, and rs you gllde
along you begin to realize the poets dream
of being waited by balmy breezes over
summer seas.
You are going bluefshing The captain,
who has now become your guide, counselor
and friend, has saved you the trouble OK
deciding that, and he heads for the inlet,
six miles across the bay, where the blues
were biting freely yesterday. He does not
commit himself to the assurance that they
| will bite freely today, for he knowns that,
except the weather, there is nothing so I'M
certain as school of bluefish. The fact
that they have been chasing silver fish
about Barnegat bay for the last three
weeks is no guarantee that they are not,
every fin of them, a hundred miles up the
coast this morning. This eccentrlclty on
their part gives the charm of hazard to
your pursuit of them, increases the thrill
of anticipation with which you await the
vigorous signal that announces the arrival
of Il fish at the other end of your 100 feet
of line and heightens the triumph of your
return homo with we'll filled basket.
Up and down the narrow waters of the
inlet go the yachts in disorderly yet or
derby parade. Their course is only half
mile long and scarcely half as wide, for
| this is where the bluehsh are feeding, and,
us it is necessary to keep moving in order
that the bone and metal ''squibs' trailing
far behind may appear to be small fishes
swimming on the surface, the yachts must
tack back and forth in this small space
continually There are a couple of dozen
of them
| But YOU have not much time TO admire
the parade beautiful as 1t is. Your cap
tain losses Ii squid overheard, lets 100 feet
or SO of heavy line trial after it and makes
the end of the same fast on board the
yacht to prevent your letting the whole
| business 90 overheard in the excitement of
the coming contest. Then he gives you
the line, with instructions to wait for IL
strike" and haul in as soon as you get
it. You may be Il novice, but you need no
| further instruction. You will have no
further difficulty in recognizing the signal
| by which bluefsh announces that he has
put himself in communication with you.
| Two sharp twitcheS and a heavy pull indi
cate his desire not to speak to you, and
your share Of the performance is to get him
| on board before he succeeds in shaking the
| hook out of his mouth, which he will do if
| he has half a chance and is very apt to do
with less than that. You pull in your line
| hand over hand. with long, steady strokes,
and are particularly careful to avoid miss
| ing your hold at any time. as that would
| involve Il mOmentary Stacking of the line
and give a corresponding advantage to the
! captive dancing and Huttering at the her
end, following quietly for IA time, then
flashing out OF water, performing ii series
of somersaults and dashing from side TO
| side in the effort to escape the strain that
is constantly drawing him nearer to his
doom. Sometimes he succeeds Some
| times he tears loose just when you think
victory Is certain, and the captains cool
let him go' sounds to you very irOnical
as you realize that you cannot possibly do
anything else, but if it is idle to cry for
spilled milk it is doubly SO to lament for a
lost fish Spit On your hook and try il
again.
BY and by rs you look out along your
| line beyond the point where it loses itself
in u wave, you see the water suddenly
break into foam, as if there had been
small explosion beneath its rippling sur
face, and the next instant feel Il tug at
your line little more emphatic than the
twitches you have become accustomed to
You begin to haul in and succeed in start
ing something toward the boat, but it
comes very slowly, and it is like hauling a
canalbOat to make it move at all. The
struggle between you and whatever it is
that you have caught becomes regular
tug of war Sometimes one has the ad
vantage, sometimes the other You gain
u few feet of line, and it is twitched back
again taking the skin with it, if you have
not taken the precaution to wear guards
AS it cuts the water it sings like harp
string and its angry swish as your victim
dashes about tells you his rage as clearly
as telephone.
But, though he darts through the water
as far in every direction as your taut line
will let run, he never comes to the surface
or executes those gymnastics that you have
watched in your former captives You be
come convinced that it is not a bluetish
Bonita, says your captain, shortly, and
when, after an exhaustive struggle, you
bring your unwilling prize to the side OF
the vessel and lift him on board the cap
tain Judgment is confirmed. 1t is "a bo
nita and not Is very large one as bonitas
go, for it will weigh only five or six
pounds, and the captain tells you he has
caught them in the open sea weighing six
times as much, but you reflect that if his
were as strong in proportion rs yours he
must have used windlass to pull it
in, for Your muscles ache us you throw
your squid overheard and sit waiting for
> another bite.
The bonita is a handsome fish. 1t is
striped somewhat like sea bass, but has
shorter, stockier body. tapering rapidly
to very thin tail, on which the caudal fin
is stuck at right angles, like IA ships pro
peller on its shaft. The head is long and
pointed, the mouth full of sharp teeth and
OF sucha bony character that there is little
danger of IA hook pulling out. Once fairly
fastened, the bonita is yours-or you are
his. He comes on board or you go into
the water AS food fish he does not
Seem to be highly esteemed The fisher
men say he Is good eating, but say it in
u t<>, 4