Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others

by James A. Henshall

It is a fish of the warm seas, approaching the shores for spawning and feeding when the temperature becomes suitable. It appears on the Gulf coast of Florida in March and April, though I have observed it as early as January in forward seasons. Its advent on the Atlantic coast is later, progressing gradually northward, reaching the vicinity of New York in July and August, and disappearing in October or November. Its breeding season in the Gulf of Mexico is in the early spring, and as late as August or September at the northern extent of its range. Its spawning may cover a period of many weeks, as the fish do not all mature at one and the same time. The eggs are quite small, about twenty-five to the inch, float at the surface, and hatch in a single day. The newly hatched fry are very small, about the tenth of an inch long, but in a year will have attained a length of six inches. The average weight of a mature fish is from two to four pounds, rarely exceeding six or eight pounds.

The Spanish mackerel is held in the highest esteem as a food-fish, being considered one of the very best, second only to the pompano of the Gulf or the whitefish of the Great Lakes. It has a mackerel flavor, but one peculiarly its own for richness and sapidity of savor. It is a game-fish of high degree, and worthy of the angler's highest regard. Its manner of fighting, when hooked, is mostly on the surface of the water, darting here and there with dazzling rapidity, in straight and curving lines, leaping into air, and bounding over the water with a velocity and nimbleness that is difficult to follow with the eye in the bright sunlight.

In northern waters it is usually taken by trolling with a small mother-of-pearl squid, or one of block tin, using a long hand-line, as the fish is rather shy and difficult to approach with a boat. In Florida, however, great sport can be had with a light rod, both in fly-fishing and bait-fishing, from the sand-spits at the entrance to deep inlets, and from the long piers and wharves that extend to deep water. The angling is done in March and April, when the fish are running into the bays in great schools on the flood tide, often in company with the salt-water trout.

A black-bass or trout fly-rod of seven or eight ounces is very suitable for fly-fishing, with a click reel and a braided linen line of pretty large size, say D or E, in order to give weight enough for casting. The enamelled silk line is, of course, better, but it does not last long in salt water. Any bright or gaudy fly will answer, on hooks Nos. 1 to 3, though yellowish or grayish flies are perhaps more attractive. A single fly only should be used, with a three or four foot leader. Black-bass rods and tackle are just right for bait-fishing for the Spanish mackerel, except that a braided linen line, and not a silk line, should be used for reasons just given. The best bait is a small, bright fish, three or four inches long, either mullet or anchovy, hooked through the lips. A small pearl squid, or a very small trolling-spoon or spinner, may be used instead, but the minnow is far and away the most attractive lure.

The bait is cast as far as possible toward the school as it is running past the point of an inlet or the end of a pier, and reeled in slowly, but rapidly enough to keep the bait on or near the surface, no sinker being employed. If the fishing is done from a pier, a very long-handled landing-net must be provided. The best plan is to fish from a small boat moored to the pier, as the angler is not so likely to be seen by the fish, and they are more easily landed. The same method is pursued in fly-fishing in the general features, except that the fly is allowed to sink after fluttering it awhile on the surface; no other special suggestions are needed. I have found the following flies useful: gray drake, green drake, red ibis, oriole, professor, and silver doctor, in black-bass patterns, on hooks Nos. 1 to 3.

THE CERO

(Scomberomorus regalis)

The cero, or sierra, was described by Bloch, in 1795, from a drawing of a specimen from the West Indies, by Plumier. He named it regalis, meaning "royal" or "regal." It belongs to the West Indian fauna of fishes, and is common from Florida to Brazil. Occasionally it strays in the summer as far north as Massachusetts. It is closely allied to the Spanish mackerel, and resembles it in form, but differs very much in coloration and size, being more sombre and much larger. Its color is brownish on the back, with silvery sides and belly; it is marked with two dusky longitudinal stripes, and several rows of dark spots, not bronze or golden as in the Spanish mackerel.

I have met with the cero only along the Florida reefs and keys. It does not swim in such large schools as the Spanish mackerel, and does not accompany it in its wanderings into the bays or along the shores, but seeks the same localities, and is of similar habits, as the kingfish-mackerel. It feeds entirely on fishes. Its breeding habits have not been studied, though they are doubtless not unlike those of the Spanish mackerel, except as to the locality and season of depositing its eggs. Its usual weight is five or six pounds, though it sometimes grows to five feet in length and twenty pounds or more in weight.

I have taken it with bone and block-tin squids, trolling from a yacht, and also from an anchored boat with rod and line, by casting mullet or sardines for bait. A striped-bass rod and tackle are suitable, as it is a strong and powerful fish, making extraordinary leaps when hooked. For its weight I know of no gamer fish, but my experience in rod-fishing has been somewhat limited, being confined to the capture of half a dozen fish.