Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-10-02


| Derby one day. You know what
, they're like Mo- Well. you see they
, have long pointed noses which they
! use as drills. making holes in the
banks to store nuts in Oh, yes, they
gather nuts on trees. That's why they
| call EN- squirrel trout. They can even
| drill into ledge of rock. They swim
against it with this long snout, and
| then with their fins and tail they whirl
around in the water like the screw of
a motor boat. That's what they call
BORN. The nuts they eat give the fish
g. fine flavor but they won't take bait
and are hard to catch. | found way
To catch 'em, though. Imported some
dog-fish and trained EN- to go after
, the squirrel trout. Yes, | used to rent
out trained dogfsh at 5 cents an hour
To city fellerS that wanted to catch
some of them nut eatin trout. At
| first ] had to keep the dog-fish on a
leash, because they had a tendency to
eat the trout after catching it. But
now I've got EN- so we'll trained that
+ | don't need the leash no more. It's
great sport, hnntin squirrel trout with
dog fish"
ElJltt Inv ldtt THAT the present mas
been the worst weakfish season in
years because of the number of sharks
! that have been attracted by the pres
ence of so many schools of ground
fish, the one shining exception has
been the sea bass season in many
years, and all anglers fishing at the
wrecks along the Long Island short
| Iberia and Black Warrior-Long Beach
grounds, Cholera Banks, Seabright,
and other faVorite places, have re-
turned with large numbers of fish.
from 4 dozen TO two and three Dozen
Well sprinkled in the sea bass catches
have been sea porgies. Both are rum
ming neck and neck now for the first
honors of being the popular fish of
1919. The sea bass in its feeding hab-
its is far from fastidious; it seems to
be always on the feed" and anything
! III the way of bait seems to go. A bait
of generous proportions is most de-
sirable. for the mouth of this species is
large, and its appetite seems to crave
i large mouthful. When the hook
strikes home it holds securely, for the
mouth of the bass is as tough as leath-
CT. The food of this fish includes
small fishes and all other animals of
suitable size. The bats used mostly
are killies, simmer CLAIMS, sandworms,
mossbunkers. herring, squid, shedder
crab, clam, shrimp, and hermit era BIS.
They take with equal veracity shrimp.
clam, and shedder crab. Cut men
haden is preferred at times. Sand
worms are the best bait to use for bay
fishing. y shedder lobster makes ex-
eellent bait There is a certain rela-
ton between the abundance of blue
fish and the scarcity of sea bass on
this coast Both species occur at the
same season. and are taken on the
same grounds. In 1890 bluefiSh were
abundant and sea bass were scarce. In
1892, there was Il scarcity of bluefish
and an abundance of sea bass. Where
sharks abound in bays, bottom-feeding
fish like the sea bass are preyed upon
very heavily, and it is probably owing
to their onslaughts that soup (poreieS).
tautoe, and sea bass have in many le-
calitieS become almost extinct Sea
bass like WeaNfish blackfish, found
ers. blueiish. and porgies. bite best on
sunny days. with q little wind to rip
pie the water There are eight species
Of the sea bass family in the New York
waters. They take the bait at As de-
grees Fahrenheit. The sea bass depos-
its spawn in the sea weeks which cover
the reefs and banks, and the parent
fish has been accused of cannibalism.
| The sea bass breeds in the summer
months and the young grow rapidly
| The hooks usually used are to 20
Sproat or Aberdeen, so to 80 Kirby
! Limerick. and . to 1-0 Carlisle. The
! hooks should he tied close to the sink
i er Leaders are not necessary. as they
are bottom feeding fish. A heavy sink
or is necessary In bay fishing the first
| of the flood and last of the ebb are
! best
| II is seldom that this miserable fish
is sought for by the genteel fisherman,
though he can yield some good sport.
Forty years ago several jolly good
! friends of Eli Kimberly, formerly
keeper of Faulkner's island made
) their annual visit to the genial old
man. ON a weeks cruise during the
month OF July At the close of every
! trip they invariably had a shark frolic.
! Uncle Eli kept the requisite gear, such
/ cts NiNCi CIidlll, ilOohS Denl on SOou
new warp. harpoons spades, knives;
with moss bunker bait, waits. etc. and
/ thus equipped, they started for the
shark reef, which lies west of Goose
Island. in about six fathoms of water
They generally had three sets of gear
and waited about one hundred rods
apart, on or just before highwater
/ slack, always selecting n calm. quiet
time Hook on the bottom and four
old forgies telling yarns. waiting
events. over the lunch, and choice old
Grenada rum. which in those day was
as pure and smooth as oil. II was a
scene worthy the brush of a painter,
and your humble servant. now the
only survivor of that party, can fancy
he hears the shout of that good old
soul, Uncle Ely, there goes the wait +"
Whirrah, Whirrah! Clear up decks, ;,
Never mind lunch, : There she goes!''
There she Watches Man your
oars, Head boat, "o--so- steady
way enough" AS the old man grabbed
the waif and fetched it up, we gaya
two good yanks ine-~ ~ II ~~s NeAu
AsaA4 .s...- ~. y