“We have, indeed, often thought that angling alone offers to man the
degree of half business, half idleness, which the fair sex find in
their needle-work or knitting, which, employing the hands, leaves the
mind at liberty, and occupying the attention, so far as is necessary
to remove the painful sense of a vacuity, yet yields room for
contemplation, whether upon things heavenly or earthly, cheerful or
melancholy.”
Sir Walter Scott.
In the preceding articles we have given the public the substance of our
experience in regard to our five favorite fish, the salmon, trout, pike,
rock, and black basse. On the present occasion we purpose to embody
within the limits of a single article, our stock of information upon the
remaining fish of the United States, which properly come under the
jurisdiction of the angler. We shall proceed in our remarks after the
manner of the dictionary-makers, and shall take up each variety without
any regard to their order, but as they may happen to come into our mind.
_The Perch._—With two members of this family alone are we personally
acquainted, viz. the yellow perch and the white perch. The first is a
beautiful fish, and found in nearly all the waters of the Northern and
Middle States, and probably as well known throughout the world as any of
the finny tribes. Its predominating color is yellow; it has an elegant
form, is a bold biter, varies in weight from four ounces to a pound
(although occasionally found in New England weighing two pounds); has a
dry and sweet flesh, but ill adapted to satisfy the cravings of a hungry
man on account of its bones, which are particularly numerous, hard, and
pointed. They generally swim about in _schools_, and yet at the same
time are not at all distinguished for their intelligence, being
invariably allured to destruction by the most bungling anglers, and the
more common kinds of bait. They spawn in the autumn, and recover, so as
to be in fine condition, early in the spring. They delight in clear
rivers or lakes, with pebbly bottoms, though sometimes found on sandy or
clayey soils. They love a moderately deep water, and frequent holes at
the mouth of small streams or the hollows under the banks. With regard
to the white perch we have only to say that it is well described by its
name, is a migratory fish, found in nearly all the rivers of the
Atlantic coast, from Boston to Norfolk; and they weigh from six ounces
to one pound, are in season during the spring and summer, are capital as
an article of food, and afford the entire brotherhood of anglers an
abundance of sport. As touching the name of the fish now before us, we
desire to chronicle our opinion respecting an important instance in
which it has been misapplied. Many years ago, while reading the
remarkable and intensely interesting work of Audubon on the birds of
America, we chanced upon the description of a fish, found in the Ohio,
to which he gave the name of white perch. Subsequently to that period,
while sojourning in the city of Cincinnati, we happened to remember Mr.
Audubon’s description, and one morning visited the market for the
purpose of examining the fish. We found them very abundant, and were
informed that they commanded a high price. On examining the fish,
however, in view of certain doubts that we had previously entertained
(for we knew that the white perch of the book was a native of salt
water), we found it to be not a legitimate white perch, but simply the
fish known on Lake Erie as the fresh water sheepshead. But this
misapplication of the term perch is not peculiar to the residents on the
Ohio, for we know that, throughout the Southern States where the black
basse is found, it is universally called the black perch; and that in
the vicinity of Boston and Nahant the miserable little fish called the
conner is there designated as a black perch. That there are several
varieties of the real perch besides those which we have mentioned we do
not deny, but we feel confident that the above correction cannot be
refuted.
_The Maskalunge and Pickerel._—Both of these fish are peculiar to the
United States, and especially to the Great Lakes, and the waters of the
St. Lawrence and Mississippi. The former belongs unquestionably to the
pike family, although commonly weighing from twenty to forty pounds,
while many people affirm that it is only an overgrown pike. They are
valued as an article of food, and by those who are fond of killing the
most savage of game at the expense of much labor, they are highly
appreciated. The best and about the only valuable account of this fish
that we have ever seen, was written by George W. Clinton, Esq., and
published in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. As to the fish which we
call the pickerel, we have to say that it occupies a position somewhere
between the trout and perch; that it is a favorite with the anglers of
Lake Champlain, Lake Erie, and Lake Michigan, and with those also who
practice the gentle art along the borders of the Ohio and the Tennessee.
It is an active fish, of a roundish form, with large mouth and sharp
teeth, and covered with small scales, the predominating colors being a
dark green and yellowish white. The name which it bears is the one so
generally applied, but erroneously, to the legitimate pike. It is also
the same fish known in the Southwest as the salmon, but as unlike the
peerless creature of the far North as a gray wolf is unlike a deer. As
is the case with the maskalunge, the pickerel is among the first of the
finny tribes that run up our Western rivers early in the spring; and in
the waters of Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence they are found herding
with the yellow perch, and we believe that in some districts they are
considered as belonging to the perch family.
_The Catfish._—This fish is distinguished for its many deformities, and
is a great favorite with all persons who have a fancy for muddy waters.
In the Mississippi they are frequently taken weighing upwards of one
hundred pounds; and while they are taken in all the tributaries of that
river, it has been ascertained that they decrease in size as you ascend
towards the north. They are also found in the tributaries of Lake Erie.
They are taken with any kind of bait; and as they are very strong the
best of tackle is invariably necessary. This fish is also found in many
of the lakes of New England, where they seldom weigh more than two
pounds, being there known as the horn or bull pout, owing to a peculiar
pictorial thorn with which they are adorned. Their flesh, though not
particularly sweet, is said to be easily digested, and they are often
sought for by people with weak stomachs. But it has always seemed to us
that it required a very _powerful_ stomach to eat a piece from one of
the mammoths of the Western waters.
As to the remaining fresh-water fish of the country, we will content
ourself by merely mentioning the names of those which are known to our
anglers, to wit: the chub, dace, white basse, sunfish, roach, bream, and
rock basse. The fish called in Virginia and Maryland the fall fish is
identical with the dace. In the waters of the West the mullet, fresh
water sheepshead, and sucker, are found in immense numbers, but they are
all exceedingly poor eating, and as sporting fish are of no account. The
sturgeon, we believe, is found almost everywhere, and known to almost
everybody.
There is a fish found in Florida which we have never seen, but which,
from all the descriptions that we have heard, belongs either to the
trout or basse families. It abounds in all the rivers, lakes and springs
of this State, is a bold biter, reaches the weight of fifteen pounds,
has a white and sweet flesh, and is taken in very much the manner
employed by northern anglers in capturing the pike, and with similar
artificial baits.
We now come to our favorites of the ocean and tide-water rivers; and the
first fish that we mention is the _black fish_, or _tautog_, as it was
called by the Mohegan Indians. It is a stationary inhabitant of the salt
water, and usually found upon reefs and along rocky shores. It is taken
all along the Atlantic coast between New York and Boston, but it has
been known north of Cape Cod only within a few years; its legitimate
home is Long Island Sound. It is an active, bold, strong, and tough
fish, highly esteemed as an article of food, and, like the cod, is
brought to the principal markets in floating cars, in which confinement
they are said to fatten. They are by no means a handsome fish, and their
scales are so adhesive as to be taken off only with the skin. They are a
summer fish, being taken as early as April, and no later than October. A
three-pounder is considered a good fish, but we have often taken them
weighing ten pounds, and have seen them weighing fifteen pounds. They
are generally taken with the hand line, and no better bait can be
employed than the lobster or soft crab.
_The Sheepshead._—This is a thick set but rather handsome fish, and, for
the sweetness of its flesh, highly esteemed. They are seldom seen in the
New York market, but very common in the Charleston and Mobile markets,
from which we infer that they are partial to southern waters. They vary
in weight from three pounds to fourteen; live exclusively upon shell
fish, and invariably command a high price. They are popular with the
anglers, for they swim in shoals and are captured with but little
trouble.
_The Blue Fish._—The name of this glorious fish reminds us of the ground
swell, and sends through our whole frame a thrill of pleasure. They are
a species of mackerel, attaining in certain places the weight of a dozen
pounds. They swim in shoals, and are taken with a trolling line and an
ivory squid. Our favorite mode for taking them has ever been from a
small boat with a hand line, though many people prefer taking them from
a sailboat when running before a breeze. They are quite as active a fish
as we have ever seen, and the strength of their jaws is so great that we
have known them to bite off a man’s finger. When fresh and fat we
consider them quite as delicate as the real mackerel, and much better
than the black fish. They are found on the sea coast as far south as
Norfolk (where they are called tailors), but they are particularly
abundant along the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island. In some
places we have often found them so numerous that we have seen a dozen of
them darting after our squid at the same instant. They are in season
during the whole of summer and autumn.
Another capital fish that we have caught “all along shore” between New
York and Cape Cod, is the _weak fish_, or _squeteague_. It never comes
into the fresh water rivers, and usually makes its appearance about
harvest time. Its habits are similar to those of the striped basse, and
in appearance it closely resembles the _ciscovet_, of Lake Superior.
They commonly weigh from three to five pounds, though they have been
taken weighing nearly ten. They are bold biters, and highly esteemed for
their sweetness.
With regard to the remaining fish found on our seaboard we are disposed
to be quite brief. The _mackerel_ we esteem, and have had rare sport in
taking them, but we look upon them as the exclusive property of our
merchants. The _halibut_ we admire, but fear, for he reminds us of one
of the most fatiguing piscatorial adventures we ever experienced, when
we hooked a thirty-pounder in the Atlantic, one hundred miles off
Nantucket. As to the _cod_, we have only to say that we have caught them
off Nahant by the hundred, and never wish to catch any more; like the
_mackerel_, we consider them the exclusive property of the mercantile
fraternity. With the _king fish_ and _drum_ we are wholly unacquainted.
The _tom cod_ and _conner_ or _blue perch_ we despise, and our antipathy
to snakes has always caused us to avoid the eel. Of the _sea basse_ and
_paugee_, if we knew what to say, we would indite a long paragraph, for
we esteem them both. As to the _shad_ and _sea sturgeon_, we shall
dismiss them with an angler’s scorn, for they know not what it is to
take the hook. And now that we have reached the bottom of our last page
(devoted to the finny tribes), we are reminded of the very peculiar but
sweet and valuable fish, which are ever found only at the bottom of the
sea—the _flounder and flat-fish_. Many a time and oft have we taken them
both with the hook and spear, and we can pay them no higher compliment
than by mentioning the fact that they are particular favorites with the
distinguished painter, _William S. Mount, Esq._, of Long Island.