FISHI O Fire Island to Barnegat KNO\A/I_SON 6c MULLER PUBLISHERS EAGLE BUILDING BROOKLYN N. Y. 3 1=3 C iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiy^ DEEP SEA FISHING GROUNDS Fire Island to Barnegat I WRECKS FISHING BANKS REEFS ■ BY JULIUS W. MULLER and ARTHUR KNOWLSON Charts drawn especially for this book by Julius W. Muller. FRIGE - - - 25 GENTS Copyright, 1915, by Knowlson & Muller. All Bights Reserved. I KNOWLSON & MULLER | I EAGLE BUILDING BROOKLYN, N. Y. | PREFACE: it was the introduction of large, comfortable, swift and safe sea-going power-vessels that first made the off-shore grounds available to the large army of New York City's fishermen. Before that they were limited to a few steamboats which could carry only a tiny percentage of people as compared with the surprising numbers who now go out regularly. 5[ The only other party-boats were sloops and schooners and these could not often reach distant grounds. Even in attempt- ing to go to places comparatively near shore, they often had uncomfortable adventures; and on the whole a trip in their days furnished more cruising (or drifting) than fishing. 5[ Until the power-boats came in, the off-shore grounds were known to comparatively few men. But the power-boats develop- ed a little navy of excellent fishing-pilots. The result is that to-day the old grounds are better known than they ever have been, and many excellent new ones have been discovered. ^ This book is the first and only publication to describe the fish- ing spots and fishing wrecks off shore. It represents more than a year of patient and careful work. The fishing captains of New York have given valuable and enthusiastic assistance, and all the facts presented in the book have been elaborately checked back. ^ In addition, deep-sea experts, hydrographic authorities and ocean pilots have been consulted; and exceedingly valuable, and hitherto little known, facts have been thus gained and are here published for the first time. ^ We call attention to the description and histories of the famous wrecks. The story of many of these was practically unknown to the present generation, and it seemed impossible for a long time to get any facts about them, as there were practically no records. It was only after many months of labori- ous investigation that the editors succeeded in gathering the data here presented. In order to get some of the details it was necessary to go through old files and shipping documents for years back. % The distances given here are nautical miles. (A nautical mile is about IVi land miles.) The compass bearings are magnetic. The depths given are mean low water. 51 No person is permitted to use any part of this book without our specific permission. (yJAR |6 i9l6 |f :% > v ^ 2 ©C! A 3 97 141; AT-^At I N D '^ Acara Wreck 36 Ajace Wreck 31, 32 Angler Banks 26, 27 Ambrose Channel Lightship 18, 46 Asbury Park Wreck 18 Aspiuwall Wreck 40 Babcock Wreck 40 Banigan Wreck 40 Bank 17 Barnegat to Fire Island Map 24 Baxter Wreck 40 Bay Queen Wreck 40 Bench 17 Big Rock 18 Black Warrior Wreck 10, 30, 31 Boyle Wreck 33 Cedars 13 Channel Wreck 33 Cholera Banks 21, 22, 23 Chute Wreck 40 Circassian Wreck 38 Coney Island Bell Buoy 9 Coney Island Mussel Beds 9 Connor Wreck 40 Copia Wreck 33 Dilberry Grounds 10 Drumelzier Wreck 34 Duck Grounds 16 East Rockaway Whistling Buoy 5 East Wreck 33 Elberon Grounds 17 Elbow 14 Elizabeth Wreck 37 England Banks 17 Equator Wreck 40 Eugenie Wreck 40 Evelyn Wreck 33 Evolution Grounds 20 False Hook 12, 13 Farms 27, 28 Fire Island to Barnegat Map 24 Fire Island Light House 9 Fire Island Light Ship 9 Fire Island Whistling Buoy 9 Fire Island Wreck 34, 40 Flat Rock 18 Flynns Knoll 12 Freeport Section Map 41 Garwood Wreck 40 Gazelle Wreck 40 Glecola Wreck 40 Governor Wreck 33 Granite Wreck 33 Grant Wreck 40 Great South Bay 46-48 Great South Bay Maps 39, 41, 43, 45, 47 Hanna Wreck 40 Harbor Entrance Map 19 Harding Wreck 40 Hargraves Wreck 42 Hempstead Bay Map 39 Henuessy Wreck 40 Highland Grounds 13 Highlands Navesink 13 Holcomb Wreck 40 Holway Wreck 40 Howard Wreck 36 Iberia Wreck 34 Inshore Grounds Maps 11—19 Italian Wreck 31, 32 Jones Inlet 36, 37, 40, 48 Jordan, E. B 18 Julia Wreck 40 Keene Wreck 40 Kenyon Wreck 33 Kirk Wreck 40 Klondike Banks 18 Knoll, The 16 Lawrence Wreck 33 Libby Wreck 40 Lindsay Wreck , 33 E X Page Little Rock 18 Lung Beach Bass Grounds 6 Long Beach Grounds 5 LoDg Beach Ground Maps 7, 24 Long Beach Stone Pile 8 Long Beach Whistling Buoy 5, 6, 27 Long Beach Wrecks 40 Long Branch Ground 17 Long Island Coast Map 7, 24 Lotus Wreck 40 Low Wreck 40 Manhattan Beach Stone Pile 9 McFarland Wreck 40 Mekhior Wreck 40 Middle Grounds 8, 13, 16, 26 Monmouth Beach Life Saving Station. 14 Kavesiak Highlands 13 Never-fail 17 New England Bank 17 New Jersey Coast Map 15, 24 New Jersey Reef 27 New Middle Ground 8, 2 7 Nigger Grounds 16 Nor' East Grounds 6 Nor' West Grounds 8 Off-shore Wrecks 42 Oil Spot 13 Oil Wreck 35 Ossoli, Margaret Fuller 37 Outer Middle Ground 13, 46 Peter Rickmers Wreck 35 Pliny Wreck 40 Rattle-Snake 14 Rhoda Wreck 37 Rickmers Wreck 35 Rockaway Buoys 10 Rockawav Mussel Beds 9 Rocky Ground 27, 28 Rocky Hill 14 Romer Shoals 10 Rusland Wreck 40 Sabao Wreck 40 Saddle Rock 21 h^andy Hook Bay Map 29 Sandy Hook Grounds 12 Sandv Hook Lig'ht-ship 46 Schuyler, J. B 17 Scotland Light-ship 44, 46 Scotland Wreck 46 Scow Wreck 33, 36, 37 Seabright Grounds 14 Seagull Banks 20 Seventeen Fathom Bank 28, 30 Shark River Grounds 18 Shark's Ledge 18 Short Beach Wrecks 40 Shrewsbury River Map 29 Shrewsbury Rocks 14 Silsby Wreck 40 Snow Wreck 33 Soule Wreck 33 Spermaceti Oove 12, 40 Sou' East Grounds 6, 8 Sou' West Spit 12 South Oyster Bay Map 43 Stairs Wreck 42 otaten Island Banks 16 Tea Wreck 36 Tolck, David H. Wreck 42 Tucker Wreck 40 Turner Wreck 33 I nibria 34 Vieksburgh Wreck 38 Vizcaya Wreck 42 Warden, J. S 20 Washington Wreck 42 AVeaver Wreck 42 West End Ground 17 West End Pier Bell Buoy 9 Willey Wreck 33 Yates Wreck 40 Where The Fish Feed mile. On the biggest of these lumps the depth of water is only 34 feet, and the other depths range from that to about 50. The reason this spot is so good is that the dumping here consisted mainly of rock and large bowlders that came from excavation work in New York City. Colonies of sea-worms, barnacles, mussels and other shell-fish naturally found this a happy home. Therefore almost all sorts of bottom-feeding fish frequent the place more or less. Cod are taken here as well as whiting and ling, and often there is fair fishing for sea bass and porgies, while blackfish and fluke are found almost always. EVOLUTION GROUNDS are supposed by some to be the —■^^—^^———^^———^ same as the Seagull Banks, but Captain Henry Beebe differentiates between them. He says that the J. S. Warden was the first boat to make a big haul of fish there. It was in 1906 when he took the Warden to the grounds for an experiment, believing that the old dumpings should by that time have "evoluted" into good fishing grounds. His hopes were more than realized. On a ground extending from the light-ship almost 3 miles south-east by south, and sloping slowly into from 90 to 108 feet, he took a mess of codfish that was phenomenal both for quantity and size. He describes the scene on the Warden, when huge cod lay piled all around the decks, and fishermen were dragging big fish two at a time through the gangways and other parts of the vessel. Few of the cod taken that day were under 20 pounds in weight, and many ran to 30 and 35 pounds. When the Warden was homeward bound, he suggested jokingly that the grounds were indeed Evolution Grounds. 20 CHOLERA BANKS. This unpleasant name dates back to the great cholera epidemic of 1832, when New York City suffered from the plague almost as some of the Asiatic cities do to-day. At that time the professional fishermen who supplied the Fulton Market did not trouble to run their smacks very far from the harbor limits. Sea bass were the fish mostly in demand then, and they were enormously plentiful even in the Lower Harbor, while it was rarely necessary to go outside of the range of Sandy Hook Light to catch them in smack-loads, and of great size. In the cholera year a number of smacks were casting about for a new fishing ground. Captain Harris of New Lon- don dropped anchor on a rocky ground and immediately be- gan to catch seabass in such numbers that he hoisted a black disk or ball as a signal to the other vessels. ^ Among these smacks was that owned by Captain Clinton Beebe. They were catching fish themselves and did not heed the signal until Captain Harris set a flag as an additional signal, whereupon they dropped down with the result that all the smacks that anchored there that day filled up in record time and with record fish. The day fortunately was clear, so that accurate ranges were taken. 5[ The Cholera Banks lie 10 to 12 miles south-east by south % east from Ambrose Channel Light-ship. The bottom is partly rock-reef formation and partly broken and honey-combed rock, some of the lumps being very large. There are also areas of a very coarse gray sand, with other patches made of black mud, while gravel, large pebbles and shells are found everywhere. ^ The rocky formation is sufficiently rough and irregular to foul anchors. Some of the rock bottom is elevated consider- ably above the surrounding sea bottom, which is from 72 to 84 feet deep, while the banks show depths of from 73 feet to only 60 feet. One rock in particular, known to fishing pilots as Saddle Rock, has such abrupt sides that sinkers rolling off the rock will drop into from 10 to 20 feet more depth. This locality is quite a noted place for large silver or sea eels. 5[ The greatest extent of the banks is westerly and easterly. They are several miles long in this direction, while the width averages only about a mile. 5[ These are the famous, historical fishing grounds of the harbor. They were famous in early New York. Fishing vet- erans will remember the posters that advertised trips in the old days, with wood-cuts of men carrying thick poles over 21 their shoulders to support the strings of huge sea bass that dangled between them. Those were the days when the old police steamer "Patrol" found it useful to meet the craft on their arrival from the banks, in order to gather in the wound- ed and their assailants without undue loss of time. A trip to the fishing banks in those times was an adventure in more ways than the mere sea-going. ^ The trips have become trips "de luxe" now, and the police do not concern themselves with the fishermen, for law, order, discipline, good fellow-ship and good humor rule, and the rowdy and "plug-ugly" of primitive New York has disap- peared from the sea. But the hump-backed sea bass still are there and appear to have changed their habits very little. The Fourth of July often marks the opening of the season with good catches. The fishing gets more satisfactory and certain a little later, however. Once the fish appear and begin to bite, they usually stay and assure good catches through the rest of the season, which, in average years, will last till mid- September. In exceptional years they will bite far into autumn. When they do, these late bass are huge, as a rule, pugnacious and very fat. ^ The bait most generally used for them is the large, saucer- shaped clam known as the skimmer. This is a clam that never occurs inside of bays or inlets, but lives exclusively outside of sea-beaches. It does not dig itself into the ocean bottom like the edible hard clam, and therefore, is thrown ashore by heavy storms that stir up the ocean sufficiently to reach them. Skimmers are not considered fit for anything except bait, though cynics declare that many a clam chowder contains them. Although their meat is firm and clean, they lack the flavor of the hard clam, and, in addition, nearly every skimmer shell contains a parasite in the form of a long, transparent worm. 5J Skimmers are such easy bait to get, and the bass take them so well, that there is not much object in seeking other baits. However, there are many others that are equally attractive to the fish, or even more so. The mussel is a choice bait for them, and they take it eagerly; but it is too soft to stay well on the hook and is always likely to wash off before a fish finds it. This is a rather important consideration when fish- ing in deep water, as the time required for reaching bottom and hauling up to examine the bait, makes a large hole in the fishing time. 22 f^ A very killing bait is made by cutting up oily fish, such as menhaden (mossbunkers) or herring into fairly large cubes, big enough to cover the hook well. ^ The sea bass are not permitted to monopolize the Cholera Banks. Fluke, blackfish, porgies and bergalls flock there, though perhaps not in such numbers or with such a rush as do the sea bass. Early in the season, ling crowd in huge num- bers over the grounds, so that the records of catches often ap- pear incredible to men who have not had the experience. It is a simple fact that sometimes they are so plentiful that good sea bass fishing can not be had until the ling have been fished out. 5[ In the autumn after the other fish have left, the cod ar- rive, and remain through the winter and into spring till the warm weather sends them off to colder water. Long ago the Cholera Banks, with some other of the near-by fishing grounds around New York, earned the reputation of being among the best along-shore cod grounds of the entire Atlantic coast, and they maintain this reputation still. ^ The cod, like all the other fish that frequent these New York Grounds, take skimmer clam freely, and other baits rarely are required. For those who want to try different baits, there are the various sea crabs that do not "bed" in the mud in winter, as the blue crab does. These bait-crabs are the lady or calico crab, also known as the sand crab, and the crabs known as stone crabs, one variety of which is green- ish and the other red in color. The calico crab is by far the best. The others are attractive only at certain times. The best condition for the calico crab is in the shedder state, but generally it is hard to get, while it is comparatively easy to obtain them in the hard state at the fishing stations. If hard crabs are used, the top shell must be removed, and the legs broken off, except the first joint, which is left on. The crab then is cut into pieces in such a way that at least one such leg-joint is left on each piece. The hook is passed through the body, out through the bony ring of the leg joint and far enough into the meat of the leg to hide the point of the hook. 23 4