The White Perch.
The White Perch is found in the waters at the mouths of rivers. Its average length is eight or nine inches. Fish for them off a deep-sunk pier or a bridge, baiting with a live minnow.
The Sea Bass.
The Sea Bass exists in a great many varieties and has been given many names, such as Black-fish, Rock Bass, Black Will, Black Bass, etc. The favorite haunts of Sea Bass are the rocky bays and sounds of the Atlantic coasts. It feeds at the bottom and rarely comes to the surface, being fond of lying under loose stones and in rock cavities. Its food is made up of crabs, squids, small fish, etc. On account of the toughness of its mouth this fish, when once hooked, is not easily lost. The best time to catch them is between tides. In New England they average about a pound and a half. The flesh of the Sea Bass is firm and sweet. The fishing banks off Sandy Hook and Long Branch yield thousands of these fish annually. The bait most often used is clams.
The Groupers.
The Red Grouper, or Groper, is a large fish, reaching an occasional weight of forty or fifty pounds, but is not common on our coasts, except in the far South. It is voracious in feeding. In the Gulf of Mexico it is abundant. It feeds on crustaceans and small fish, and even large crabs. As a food fish it is considered excellent.
The Black Grouper is called the "Jew-fish." It is a common fish along the Gulf coast. The Jew-fish attains a large size and will swallow a hooked fish, hooks, lead, line and all.
The Pacific Jew-fish is sometimes called the Black Sea Bass and is the largest food fish of this coast, reaching a weight of five hundred pounds.
Black Bass.
Black Bass are found widely distributed over the Atlantic slope. They are not particular in their diet, eating many kinds of food—fish, crawfish, moths, flies, frogs, and even rats and snakes. They can leap powerfully. It is said that the best time to take them is at night, or when rivers are high and muddy. There are two types, the large-mouth and the small-mouth. Bass may be caught by using artificial flies or minnows, or live minnows, small frogs, grasshoppers, or by the use of trolling spoon.