Evening star., 1936-05-02
By Perry Miller

Y " A little While now all ROOO wives
must be prepared for the great
ordeal Of Spring and Summer
L the cleaning of the fish their hus-
bands bring home from the waters OF
the Lower Potomac and the Chesa-
peake Bay.
The fishing season is upon us and
there is no escape.
Greatest and one of the most
healthful outdoor hobbies in this VII
cinity, fishing comes into its own again
after a long, hard Winter. Soon the
alarm clocks will be sounding off at
am, in the dark of the morning.
Many a household will be thrown into
! hectic fury while the old man shuff1es
into his sea going costume and the
/ little woman hustles up hot coffee.
Then the jubilant homecoming, with
a mess of porgies, or croakers, or black
wills-the young sea bass.
Boy, hand me down that fishing
line!
All the way from Washington to the
Carolinas the fish are beginning to
bite, frolicking in the sparkling waters
of Springtime after the penitential
period of frozen Winter.
Three familiar varieties Of fish are
popular in waters adjacent to Wash
ington. They are the Sequeteague,
or weakfish: striped bass, or rockflsh,
and the we'll known bluefish.
The weakfish, called by many sea
trout. which ranks chief in quantity,
is we'll and favorably known to the
sport fishermen, and puts up an excel
lent fight when hooked.
It is caught in large numbers along
the Atlantic Coast between Massachu-
setts and Florida. In North Carolina
it is found almost throughout the year
but is most abundant from early
! Spring to late Fall. 1t first appears
| in large schools in April and May in
various bays and sounds along the
Atlantic Coast. Later in the year part
of the fish migrate to the ocean to
spawn, while others accomplish spawn
ing in the larger bays such as the
Chesapeake.
The record Sequeteague landed
weighed II pounds ounces and many
of this species weighing from l to Z
and 8 pounds are caught in Chesa-
peake Bay. A l2-pounder, measuring
80 inches is not uncommon. The an
nual catch of this species in Atlantic
waters is approximately 1500O,00O
pounds.
I TITLE is known of the migratory
habits of the weakfish. In South
ern waters it is known as the sea trout
or gray trout. A closely related species
the spotted Sequeteague. also an
abundant and valuable fish, is found
along the South Atlantic and Gull
Coasts.
The bluefiish, another of the deni-
zens of the deep to be found in
Chesapeake Bay, is a family with a
single species and can boast of being
in class by itself. 1t ranges from
Maine to Texas, though found pri-
marily from Long Island to the east
coast of Florida, where it is caught
from April to October.
Travelling in great schools and
attacking other fishes with wanton.
ness nowhere exceeded in the whole
world of finny folk, bluefish make
menhaden their principal item of diet
and their abundance or scarcity de.
pends largely on the annual crop Of
these smaller food fish. Like a pach
of wolves, they attack everything II
their path, killing many times a.
much prey as they can eat, seemingly
from a sheer lust to kill. They arr
frequently called animated chopin.
machines. Being Of excellent flavor
the bluefish has become one o
Americas most important food fishei
and always commands relatively higf
price. It Is much sought by thl