This is a Southern fish, being caught in nearly all the inlets of the Atlantic below Baltimore, and in those of the Northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico. At these latter points he is called the red-fish, because, in death, he changes to variegated reddish colors. His color, in life, is light silvery, and near the tail is usually one dark spot, which looks unnatural, and as though it came there by accident. Some of them have three or four of these dark spots in a cluster. When taken as far North as Charleston, he is called the spotted bass, a name derived from these spots on the tail. In North and South Carolina, he begins to bite in March, and is then fished for all through the rest of the year, and sometimes in January. In the Gulf of Mexico you can get red-fish the year round. He runs in shallow water, and at the extreme South is taken with a small sized cod-hook, and shrimp bait, or pieces of mullet will sometimes answer. With a rod and reel, you may follow the directions given for weak-fish or striped bass, using No. 00 Limerick or Kirby hooks, and twisted gut leaders.