l60 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



ing water — old and genial friends of whom he never tires, 

 whose fellowship is never wearisome, whose company is never 

 dull. There are no harsh or discordant sounds on the stream 

 — nothing to offend the eye or ear. Even the kingfisher's 

 rattle, the caw of the crow, the tinkle of the cow-bell, the 

 bark of the squirrel are softened and subdued and harmon- 

 i;^ed by the ripple of the stream and the rustle of the over- 

 hanging trees. All is joy and gladness, peace and content- 

 ment, by the merry shallows and quiet pools of the flowing, 

 rushing stream. The swish of the rod, the hum of the reel, 

 the cutting of the line through the water, the leap of the 

 Bass, seem somehow to blend with the voices of the stream 

 and the trees on its banks, and to speak to the angler in 

 louder, though sweeter, tones than on open waters; such 

 sounds seem to be more intensified or heightened in their 

 effect by some mysterious acoustic property of the stream 

 and its surroundings. And the occasional "pipe of peace" 

 in some shady nook or sequestered spot, where, stretched at 

 full length, the angler idly watches the nicotian incense 

 assuming all manner of weird shapes as it ascends toward 

 the tree-tops, while he indulges in fanciful day-dreams, with 

 the cool breeze fanning his heated brow — the soft ferns rest- 

 ing his tired limbs! Yea, verily, this is the fishing beyond 

 compare. 



LAKE -FISHING. 



Lake-fishing will include, arbitrarily, the Great Lakes, the 

 larger inland lakelets of Canada, Minnesota, Wisconsin, 

 Michigan, and other States, and the lakes, lagoons, and 

 broad streams of the Gulf States. Presumably, a boat is 

 always used in this kind of fishing, either with fly or bait, in 

 which the angler is 



— "Cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in 

 To saucy doubts and fears." 



As the Bass grow larger, on an average, and are mostly 



