BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION 



proper due at the hands of anglers and angling writers. 

 He is not as black, not as green rather, as he has been 

 painted from time immemorial. On suitable tackle he 

 is a foeman worthy of any angler's skill. "On suitable 

 tackle." Therein lies the secret. 



It shall be my purpose, so far as in me lies, not to 

 lose sight of the fascination of this particular sport; to 

 emphasize the aesthetical, if the reader will allow that 

 somewhat effeminately flavored word. I fuss with the 

 average angling writer. His instructions are about as 

 interesting as an array of vital statistics. I could never 

 understand why the attractivity of the sport, the lure 

 of the open, the blandishment of God's Out-o'-Doors, 

 should not have place even in a book on tackle and how 

 to use it. We do not fish just for fish, in all conscience. 

 So if I stop to gather moccasin flowers while fly-fishing 

 for pickerel, or leave the boat to collect highly colored 

 autumn leaves when casting for the fighting muskel- 

 lunge, don't find fault. Why should I be other than 

 I am, even in a book? He who angles with me must 

 become accustomed to my habits, my idiosyncracies, 

 or we will speedily dissolve partnership. I have always 

 held that flower-gathering and bird-study are an im- 

 portant part of fishing; and whether I am fishing for 

 aristocratic trout or plebeian pickerel, I take time to 

 become acquainted with my surroundings. 



Then, too, what other anglers have said about 

 fishing, history and literature, must play its part. 

 Pike fishing is an ancient pastime, and there is con- 

 siderable literature upon the subject, especially Old 

 World literature, for in England the pike is more 

 highly thought of than he is upon this side the briny. 

 Be it said, however, upon this side there has no work 



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