[Sidenote: At the Yuletide]
At the yuletide, or during the Christmas holidays, the lakes and streams
of the North and West are locked fast in the icy chains of winter. The
waters are then a sealed book to the angler, who, unless he indulges in
the questionable sport of fishing through the ice, is consoled only by
retrospective pleasures when overhauling his rods and flybooks. Not so,
however, in the sunny waters of Florida, where fishing is, on the whole,
at its best at the time of the Christmas festivities, if such a season
can be realized by the Northern angler amid the profusion of fruits,
flowers, and foliage.
[Sidenote: A Pleasant Transition]
To one accustomed to the merry jingle of sleigh bells and to coursing
swiftly, steel shod, over the frozen pools he loves so well, it is
really a marvelous, but pleasing, transition to be able to cast his bait
or flies during the season of the yuletide.
[Sidenote: Climate of Florida]
Florida has one of the finest and most genial continental winter
climates in the world. One can live in the open air the winter through,
without discomfort, as it seldom rains during that season, and therein
lies the great and lasting benefit to the invalid who requires an
open-air life and nature's great restorers, fresh air, warm sunshine,
moderate exercise and sound, refreshing sleep. He will be told that
Florida has a damp climate by his physician who has never been in the
state, and will be advised to go to a dry climate. But the dampness of
Florida is not an exhalation from the soil, which is dry sand, but is
the humid, salt air from the sea, which with the balsamic fragrance of
the pines, conduces to the health and well-being of the invalid, and to
the pleasure and enjoyment of the angler and sportsman.
[Illustration: Sheepshead. (_Archosargus probatocephalus._)]
[Sidenote: Better than the Mediterranean]
[Sidenote: Good Shooting]
I have suffered more from raw, chilly weather in the much-lauded winter
climates of southern France, Italy, and even Morocco, than in southern
Florida. And while the shooting along the Mediterranean in winter is
very fair for the red-legged partridge, migratory quail and snipe, it is
not to be compared with the shooting to be had in Florida, either for
abundance or variety of game. In fact, Florida is hardly excelled by any
state in the Union in its possibilities of fishing and shooting. And
then these sports can be practiced at a time when the streams and lakes
of the North are bound in icy fetters, and the woods and fields buried
beneath the hibernal mantle of snow.
[Sidenote: Florida Fishing]
The angler can hardly go amiss in any section of Florida for his
favorite sport. Wherever there is reasonably pure or uncontaminated
water he will find some species of the finny tribe. And the true angler,
he who loves the sport for its own sake, can be satisfied so long as his
tackle is commensurate with his quarry. With his stout tools and tackle
he enjoys the phenomenal leaps of the tarpon, or the leviathan struggles
of the jewfish. With his delicate split-bamboo wand, silken line,
gossamer leader and fairy flies, he enjoys equally well, perhaps more,
the wary bream or crappie of the fresh waters. Better still, with
suitable tackle the acknowledged game fish, _par excellence_, of
America, the black bass, will yield him sport galore.
[Illustration: Cavalla. (_Carangus hippos._)]
[Sidenote: The Sheepshead (_Archosargus probatocephalus_)]
The lover of sheepsheading will find his quarry about the piling of old
wharves or about the oyster reefs, while his bait--fiddler crabs--abound
in myriads on the beaches. I once saw the catch of a man who took three
hundred on a single tide from Summerlin's cattle wharf at Puntarassa. He
should have been indicted, tried and convicted by a jury of honest
anglers and sentenced to a term of imprisonment by a judge of fair
sport. The sheepshead, with its human-like incisors, is very adroit at
nibbling the bait from the hook, and must be circumvented by a quick,
sharp turn of the wrist upon the least provocation or intimation of its
intentions; this will drive the hook into its well-paved jaw six times
in ten. When hooked, the sheepshead makes strenuous efforts to reach the
bottom, which is very trying to a light rod. The fish should be kept
near the surface until the spring of the rod compels it to give up the
contest. A school of sheepshead, in their striped suits, reminds one of
a gang of prison convicts, begging their pardon for the comparison; of
course all comparisons are odious. The same rod and tackle hereafter
recommended for cavalli, etc., answers for sheepshead.
[Sidenote: The Cavalli (_Carangus hippos_)]
The cavalli, or jack, with its second cousins, the runner, the horse-eye
jack, the leather jack, amber jack and the pompanos, are closely allied
to the mackerels, and all are game-fishes. The cavalli can be taken with
the fly, bait, or trolling-spoon, and when hooked puts up a vigorous
fight. It is a handsome silvery fish, bound in blue and yellow, and can
be found about the inlets and tideways. In rare instances it reaches
twenty pounds in weight, but is usually taken from two to ten pounds.
Ordinary black bass tackle is suitable for the cavalli, with a sinker
adapted to the strength of the tide. For baits, any small fish, as
anchovy and pilchard, will answer, while shrimp and cut bait can also be
used. Gaudy and attractive flies are the best for fly-fishing, which can
be practiced from piers, a boat, or from the points of inlets. The most
popular way of fishing is by trolling in the channels, when a spoon with
but a single hook should be used.
[Sidenote: The Sea Trout (_Cynoscion nebulosus_)]
The sea-trout is a surface-feeding fish, and a game one. It is not a
trout, of course, but is akin to the Northern weakfish, and is called a
trout, by courtesy, because of its black spots. It takes the fly because
it cannot help it, and will give the angler ample exercise with a light
rod before it is landed. Being more high-minded than the sheepshead, it
does its fighting on the surface. The sea-trout is not a bushwhacker nor
yet a guerilla. It sometimes runs up the streams to fresh water.
[Illustration: Sea Trout. (_Cynoscion nebulosus._)]
[Sidenote: The Spanish Mackerel (_Scomberomorus maculatus_)]
The Spanish mackerel is not a whit behind the sea-trout in gameness, or
in its aptitude or fancy for the feathers and tinsel of an artificial
fly. It is the trimmest built fish that swims, and always reminds me of
a beautiful racing yacht. It feeds and fights on the surface and in the
open, displaying its silver and blue tunic with gold buttons to good
advantage. They move in battalions along the outer shores during winter,
but in March and April enter the inlets in companies, and then afford
fine sport to the angler.
[Sidenote: Shore Fishing]
When the Spanish mackerel is running into the bays and inlets, it is
often accompanied by the sea-trout (spotted weakfish). Both fishes are
surface feeders and take bait or the artificial fly eagerly, as stated.
They run in schools at this season, and are readily seen as they plow
along the surface, creating quite a ripple.
The fishing at this time is practical from wharves or the points of
inlets and passes.
The long piers at Port Tampa and St. Petersburg on the west coast are
favorite places. The fishing is done on the flood tide, mostly, but
often at the last of the ebb. No special directions are needed when the
fish are running in schools, except to keep the bait or fly in constant
motion on the surface--the fish will do the rest.
Both are game-fishes of high degree, and the angler will have all he
can attend to after hooking one on light tackle. As food fishes they
are excellent. I prefer to fish from the sand-spits at the mouths of
inlets, or if near a pier to fish from a boat moored alongside, as the
fish are not so likely to see one, and they are more easily landed.
[Sidenote: Bait Fishing]
Ordinary black bass tackle is quite suitable for either fish, with fly
or bait. Braided linen lines are preferable, however, to silk ones, as
the latter soon rot in salt water. A gut leader about four feet long and
snelled hooks, Nos. 1 to 3, are all right for bait-fishing. The best
bait is a small sardine, anchovy or mullet, though the casting spoon,
with a single hook, or a pearl squid of small size may be used if kept
in constant motion on the surface.
[Sidenote: Fly-Fishing]
For fly-fishing a single fly is sufficient, of any bright pattern, with
some gilt or silver tinsel on the body, as the silver doctor, tied on
No. 3 hooks. A long-handled landing-net is indispensable.
[Illustration: Spanish Mackerel. (_Scomberomorus maculatus._)]
[Sidenote: The Kingfish (_Scomberomorus cavalla_)]
The kingfish--not the fish known by that name in Northern waters, but a
second cousin to the Spanish mackerel--is found along the reefs from
Cape Florida to Boca Chica. It is one of the principal food fishes of
Key West, and is taken by the fishermen trolling with a strip of bacon
rind, which is something in the nature of an indignity, for it is a
grand game-fish on the rod, and will take fly or bait on long casts. It
grows much larger than the Spanish mackerel, often to twenty pounds or
more, and is of a more somber hue. Its cousin, the cero, is very similar
in size and appearance, but has dark spots along its graceful sides. All
of this genus are among the best for the table, as all real game-fishes
are.
[Sidenote: The Redfish (_Sciænops ocellatus_)]
The best member of the drum family is the redfish, or channel bass. It
is one of the common game-fishes of the brackish water bays on either
coast. It is a handsome fish with a coat of old red gold and a vest of
silver and pearl. It is characterized by a large black spot near the
tail; sometimes there will be two spots, and occasionally these are
split up into a half dozen. While the redfish is very susceptible to
bait it often rises to the fly, if a large and gaudy one. In either
event it offers a stubborn resistance when hooked, and when of large
size--from twenty to forty pounds--a good strong rod is a _sine qua
non_, though I once killed one on a Henshall rod of eight ounces, which
was fully thirty-five pounds in weight. Most of the fish-scale jewelry
and artificial flowers are made from the scales of redfish.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Kingfish. (_Scomberomorus cavalla._)