The fishing is done from a boat anchored near the edge of the channels or in the vicinity of hard shoals of sand, ledges of rocks, or near oyster bars, in water of pretty good depth. The bait may be shedder-crab, clam, blood-worm, or shrimp. All are good, but crab is, perhaps, the best, and should be kept in motion.
The northern kingfish must not be confounded with the kingfish of the Florida Keys, which is a fish of the mackerel tribe, akin to the Spanish mackerel, a game-fish of high order, growing to a weight of forty pounds. I was amused several years ago when a correspondent applied to the angling editor of one of the sportsman's journals for information concerning the kingfish of Florida. The editor, not knowing any better, confounded it with the northern kingfish, and recommended the usual means of capture for that fish. I wondered, at the time, how the inquiring angler succeeded with the nimble acrobat of the coral reefs, still-fishing, with such tackle.
There are two closely allied species—the Carolina whiting (Menticirrhus americanus) and the surf or silver whiting (Menticirrhus littoralis), which differ somewhat in coloration and in some unimportant structural differences; otherwise they are very similar to the kingfish. The former inhabits the deeper water, while the latter frequents the shallow sandy shores of the southern coast from Carolina to Texas. Their feeding habits are similar to those of the kingfish, and in their season they can be captured in the same way.
![[THE WEAKFISH]](#4874689659045165388_illo_270.jpg.id-1471118885184542897.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
![[THE KINGFISH]](#4874689659045165388_illo_270.jpg.id-5583840435857554293.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
![[THE GERMAN CARP]](#4874689659045165388_illo_270.jpg.id-5632066997481826893.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
THE CROAKER
(Micropogon undulatus)
The croaker was described by Linnæus, in 1766, from South Carolina. He named it undulatus, "undulating or wavy," owing to the undulating character of the markings on the body and fins. Its range extends along the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico from the Middle states to Texas, though it is more abundant from the Chesapeake Bay to Florida. The outline of the body is somewhat elliptical and compressed, not much elevated on the back, but with rather a regular curve from the snout to the tail; its depth is less than a third of its length. The head is about as long as the depth of the body, with a prominent, somewhat blunt snout, and a rather large mouth, with small barbels beneath the lower jaw. The border of the cheek-bones is strongly toothed. The teeth of the jaws are in brushlike bands, with somewhat longer ones in the upper jaw. There are two dorsal fins, slightly connected; the caudal fin is double concave or trifurcate. The back is dusky gray with silvery lustre, sides silvery or brassy, belly white and iridescent. There are a number of dusky or cloudy vertical or oblique bands, and the upper part of the body is profusely sprinkled with numerous dark spots, irregularly placed, in undulating lines. A dusky spot is at the base of the pectoral fin; the dorsal fins are marked with dark spots, which form lines along the soft dorsal fin.
The croaker frequents grassy situations in the brackish water of bays and bayous, feeding on crabs, shrimps, and other crustaceans, and small fishes. It grows to a length of ten or twelve inches, and is a good pan-fish when perfectly fresh. It spawns in the autumn.