Back of Rockledge are lakes Poinsett and Wilder, abounding in black
bass. Several places on Indian River furnish excellent fishing, as
Sebastian River, Indian River Inlet, Gilbert's Bar, and the waters
around Jupiter Light. Farther south, on Lake Worth, Hillsboro' and New
River inlets, the fishing is still better, and the fishes larger.
[Sidenote: Angling on the West Coast]
St. Andrew's Bay and neighborhood at the northern end of the peninsula
will not disappoint the angler. Farther south, in the vicinity of Cedar
Key, and at the several rivers below--Withlacoochee, Crystal, Homosassa,
Anclote, etc., and at the passes on Clearwater Harbor, the smaller
species abound, with occasional big ones. Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Lemon
Bay, Charlotte Harbor, Marco and other bays, with their numerous inlets
and passes and tributaries are not excelled in the world for the variety
and excellence of their game-fishes, large and small.
[Sidenote: Tools and Tackle]
Tarpon and jewfish require special rods and reels. The largest groupers,
barracudas, amber jacks, bonitos, etc., require striped bass rods, reels
and lines, while most of the other fishes mentioned may be easily
handled with a good ash and lancewood black bass rod of seven or eight
ounces, multiplying reel and corresponding tackle. Sproat hooks of
various and suitable sizes cannot be excelled for any kind of Florida
fishing, if of the best quality. Almost any kind of bait, natural or
artificial comes in play--mullet, pilchard or anchovy for
surface-feeding fishes; crabs, fiddlers, beach fleas and cut bait for
bottom feeders. Trolling or casting-spoons or spinners can often be
substituted for other baits.
[Sidenote: With the U. S. Fish Commission]
During the winter of 1889-90 I had charge of a scientific expedition to
the Gulf of Mexico with the schooner _Grampus_, of the U. S. Fish
Commission. I did the shore work of collecting fishes and fish food
along the west coast of Florida, from Biscayne Bay around Cape Sable and
northward to Tampa Bay, and secured nearly three hundred species of
fishes and many crustaceans. For this work I had a mackerel seine boat,
thirty-four feet long, rigged with foresail and mainsail. At night I
fastened a sprit as a ridge pole between the two masts, and with an
awning from the _Grampus_ I housed the boat in completely.
[Sidenote: Sport with Jewfish]
One sunny morning I sailed from John's Pass and entered Gordon's Pass, a
few miles south of Naples, about noon. While the men were preparing
dinner and getting the seines and collecting outfit in readiness, I had
some fine sport with jewfish, running from fifteen to forty pounds, on a
ten-ounce rod. A few hundred yards from the mouth of the pass, on the
south shore, where the bank is very steep and crowned with palmettos,
the water is quite deep, and was a favorite resort for jewfish, as
heretofore mentioned.
[Sidenote: A Good Haul]
After dinner we proceeded to haul the long seine, and just as it was
landed, filled with all manner of fishes, four negroes came driving up
the beach in a mule cart, two men and two women, to where the seine was
being hauled ashore. They leaped out of the cart at once, consumed with
curiosity as to the contents of the seine. The oldest woman was an
immense specimen, weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds, and with
a beam as broad as the cart. The other woman was a comely mulatto girl,
her daughter. I had just gaffed a small horned ray, a devil-fish, about
four feet across its wing-like pectoral fins.
The fat and dusky gargantuan female came waddling down the beach as
fast as her short legs could carry her. On seeing the rather formidable
and frightful looking ray, she recoiled in horror and exclaimed:
[Sidenote: The Darkeys and the Devil-fish]
"Good Lawd! Wat is dat ting, mistah?"
"That's a devil-fish, Auntie," I replied.
"Fo' de lan's sake! It sho' luks lak de debble! Luk, Rastus; luk at his
ho'ns and tail!"
Then turning to her daughter, she said: "Go 'way, honey; don't come
anigh dat ugly varmint; he sho' swallow yo' or prod yo' wid his ho'ns."
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Florida Barracuda. (_Sphyræna barracuda._)