The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-11-06
SEA CROP THAFPAYS WELL
IFrom the New York SUM-


1t is many a year since the fishing
has been so good as it IS Just now off
the Cape Nay county coast The snap
ping mackereI have never been SO plen-
tifuI; schools containing millions of fish
have been feeding four or five miles
from shore for the past three weeks
and each day the handline fishermen
have been coming ashore with their
boats loaded almost to the gunwales-
4 month ago not a mackereI was IN
sight and the hundreds of fishermen in
this section, who depend on the catch
of these fish for a livelihood had almost
given Up hope OF a successful season,
when one morning word went around
that the rnackereI were coming down
the coast in schools. preying on the acres
Of mossbunkers that preceded them.
In an hour all was hurry and excite
ment in the little fishing colonies that
dot the island beaches Of tEe county
A hundred fishing skiffs were soon
manned by their crews of SWedes Nor
Wegians and Jerseymen. and dashing
through the surf TO the fishing banks,
far out at sea An hours sail and the
boats are in the very midst of the
school On all sides can be seen the
splashing mackerel as they pursue their
prey, the ''bunkeTs-" Catching mack
erel is sport for a time, but before long
it becomes the hardest kind of work.
The fish are heavy. and for fighting
have few equals The smallest of them
once fastened to the hook. Will contest
every inch of the way to the boat Be
SlQeS DelDS game the IlSu IS q cunning
fellow. At first he will dart forward
with Hghtning-Ike Tapidity in an en-
deavOr to loosen the sharp-pointed barb:
then he will dash to the right and to the
left. or leap far out of water. then dive
far under the surface. In these swift
tactics, the line becomes slack, and the
inexperienced angler Will for a moment
think he has lost his fish. Not SO with
those who have learned the tricks of
the mackereI. These continue pulling
upon the line. which soon tightens with
the weight of the fish, which in its des-
perate attempt to gain freedom, again
leaps far out of water, twisting and
squirmIng, only to land at last in the
bottom of the fisherman's skiff- For
two or three hours this sport goes on
almost continuously. and then with
skiffs loaded down with mackereI, the
anglers hoist sail and start for home.
Holly Beach, a small village at the
lower end of Five Mile Beach, is well
known to wholesale fish dealers in New
York, Philadelphia and other large cit
les. While it has some pretenSiOnS as
a seaside resort, 1t is distinctly a fishing
village. It's residents are prin-
cipally Swedes. Danes and Nor
wegians, many of them adopted
citizens of the United States,
who firing of sailors life, have turn
ed to fishing for a livelihood The lit
tie homes these men have built among
the sand dunes and trees are most pic
tureSQue. These hardy fishermen are
laW-abiding and prosperous, but never,
since they came to the Jersey Shore has
their prosperity been such as it is this
fall. The great run OF mackerel has
brought thousands of dollars to them,
and the hard days they've spent at sea
in their little skiffs viii not be re
GREETED.
Never more than two men fish from
a skiff, and there have been many days
landing at Holly Beach has received
$50 for its catch Of mackereI