These fish furnish one of the most remarkable instances of the appearance and disappearance of species on our coast. As in our day with the Spanish mackerel, that favorite of the gourmand, so in former times the blue fish appeared suddenly. He was first seen on the coast of Massachusetts in 1764, and then not again till 1792, and it is only since the year 1830 that he has been abundant. He seems to have superseded another and larger fish of the same name, and as his numbers augment, those of the weak fish diminish. The blue fish has singular vagaries, sometimes crowding every inlet in swarms, and then deserting us altogether, visiting in one season one locality, and in the next another, but ordinarily frequenting our entire coast north to Massachusetts. They afford excellent sport on a rod and line, being among the strongest and boldest of their kind, taking the fly readily under certain circumstances, and they fight well when hooked, but from the character of the localities they usually frequent, they are mostly taken with a hand line from a sail boat. An artificial squid of bone ivory or lead is trailed along at the end of forty yards of stout line from a boat dancing merrily over the waves under the influences of a moderate breeze. The boatman's business is to watch for a shoal which can be seen by their breaking in their pursuit of the mossbunk-ers or by the action of the gulls, and when he has found it, by repeated tacks to keep the boat in or near it, the fisherman's duty is to haul in steadily and regularly immediately on feeling a bite, and to get out his line again as soon as possible. The fish dart forward when hooked and throwing themseves out of water turn almost a complete somersault, when, if the line is not taut, they will throw the hook out of their mouths. The dashing of the waves and flying of the spray, the rapid exhilarating motion of the vessel, the fresh sea breeze, the rapid biting, and fine play of the fish make a day pass pleasantly in trolling for blue fish.

A variety of squids is desirable, for dark days the bright one are preferable and for bright days the contrary, but for general use the leaden or pewter squid is the best. The size must be adapted to that of the fish. After a run of good fish in the latter part of May none appear in our bays until about July first when the small ones arrive. For these small squids are desirable, but as the season advances and they grow larger the bait also must be larger. Their teeth are sharp and will cut through the line if they reach above the hook, and it is said, will take off the fisherman's finger if he puts it in their mouths. It is necessary to have a stout line, and it is well also to wear gloves to prevent cutting the hands, the shearing about of the fish together with the motion of the boat causing sharp jerks and a heavy strain, and when the water is clear and the fish shy it will be found profitable to use a twisted or double gut leader for a short distance above the squid. This will stand a good pull and will lift an ordinary fish out of water, and if one is occasionally carried off will more than pay for itself by the extra number of bites that it will obtain. There are no shyer fish than blue fish, fierce and ravenous as they are. It they encounter the wing of a pound net on entering a harbor they will not attempt to pass around it like bass and weak fish and even Spanish mackerel but they will turn back immediately and go out to sea again. The finer the tackle that can be used with them the more successful the fisherman will be, and throughout the entire summer months no blue fish will be encountered that cannot be hauled into a boat on a good line of double salmon gut. Beyond this there is not much science in trolling for blue fish, although there is some practice necessary in keeping one's feet on the deck of the yacht, if a yacht is used, while it is dashing over the waves of the ocean and the fisherman's attention is absorbed in hauling in his line more rapidly than the fastest of fish can swim forward on it.

Still fishing for blue fish has become quite a favorite sport lately in localities where formerly nothing but trolling was ever thought of. There is an excitement in dancing over the restless ocean in the diminutive sail boat; there is more or less of danger upon the "mighty deep" and passing in and out of the angry, sullen, threatening inlet, with its rows upon rows of crested breakers, its uncertain and changing shoals and its rapid currents, and there is always the possibility of being caught out all night by the turning of the tide or the falling of the wind. So that although the mere striking and hauling in the fish on a stout line and with a big hook would otherwise be dull sport, the accompaniments make trolling more exhilarating than bait fishing from an anchored vessel. The sport has, however, so greatly deteriorated of late the fish have become so scarce, being caught by pound nets placed across their favorite inlets or by fishing with fly nets at night on their feeding grounds inside the lagoons along the coast, that trolling with a sail boat, at least near New York has almost ceased to furnish remuneration either in the way of sport or profit, and anglers have been driven to other methods. One of the best of these is still fishing with rod and reel.

The same tackle is used as in bass fishing in the surf, except that the hook had better be fastened to the line with a length of fine brass wire to prevent the saw shaped teeth of the blue fish cutting it off. The boat is anchored generally in the channel, inside of the inlet where there is a strong current, but often out in the ocean itself. Menhaden, otherwise called mossbunkers or bony-fish are used for bait. A number of these fish are cut in pieces and cast into the water to make what is called a "slick" - the oil from them floating on the surface. This is continued until the blue fish are attracted and are tolled in to take the food. The angler then baiting his hook with mossbunker commences his work. Casting into the strong current his bait is carried off as far as he cares to let it go, and amid the "chum" as the chopped fish is called. As it offers a more attractive morsel than the smaller pieces around it, a blue fish is sure to give it the preference, and

Darting upon it with hungry maw, He sinks the hook in his upper jaw.

Then comes "a terrible rush of fear and dread with a force by rage made double," and away goes the fish and out runs the line till the reel sings "sweetest music to attendant ears," and the fisherman has all he can do to control and conquer his powerful prey. Blue fish are game from the tips of their noses to the ends of their caudal fins, and have back bone for anything. They are worthy relatives of the dolphin, of antique and lyric fame. They fight to the last, and in their dying gasps do not disdain to bite off the finger or thumb of their victor if he comes "fooling around " their jaws too heedlessly. Such sport as this is not to be despised, and compares fairly with that had with a "wet sheet and a flowing sea." It is followed at Fire Island inlet on Long Island and elsewhere, and will be successful in any water inhabited by blue fish, where there is a current and where bait can be obtained. Formerly a weak imitation of it was indulged in by Miss Nancy fishermen who regarded trolling with a hand line as coarse work, and who had themselves towed in a row boat behind a sail boat while they fished with rod and reel. As soon as they struck a fish it was the duty of one of the hands on the sail boat to cast them loose and let them kill it at their leisure. They could not fish from the sail boat because its speed added to that of the fish was more than their tackle would stand. Such make-believe sport however never had many followers, and still fishing, such as we have described has wholly supplanted it and is in every way to be preferred.

The sport "outside" is better than that inside the inlet, as the fish are larger and there is something glorious in fishing in the clear depths and on the limitless surface of the mighty ocean, but we warn all who have the least tendency to sea sickness to avoid it. When anchored "amid the breakers," the boat, whether large or small, rolls, pitches, twists, turns, wobbles and dances in a way that is wholly unexpected even by those who have had experience on the unstable element, and good sailors have become so sick in a short time that they have scarcely been able to get up their anchors, make sail and work back again into smooth water. In all chumming there are but two secrets; cut the chum fine, and use enough of it. Although we have spoken of using a rod and reel, more blue fish are taken on a hand line which, especially "outside" is far more easily managed. It is what we generally use, bur, those who prefer more science and fewer fish can use the more elegant tackle.