These salt water fish are caught in immense quantities in the vicinity of New York bay on what are called the Fishing Banks. In the summer months, which is the time for fishing them, steamboats are daily leaving New York to accommodate fishing parties. The tackle used is a hand line of flax or hemp twelve to eighteen fathoms long, with several hooks attached, ten to fifteen inches apart. The hooks for the porgy should be the black fish hook No. 3, and for sea bass, the Kirby pattern, No. 1. Provide yourself with a goodly number of hooks, as you are apt to lose them in various ways. You should have a lead sinker weighing three quarters of a pound or more. Clam bait is the only kind necessary, and if you salt it a little it will be tougher and stick better to the hook. You should watch your lines cautiously, and jerk them strongly at each bite to hook your fish, or you may lose your bait. The fish thus taken average from one to four and a half pounds, and it frequently happens that two or three are drawn out of the water together. You will thus see the necessity of having very strong tools, and also of wearing an old pair of leather gloves to preserve your hands from blistering while drawing up your fish.

Sea Bass.