SOME GENERAL REMARKS ON FISHING 

 FOR SPORT 



By H. Wheeler Perce 



As I glanced at the preliminary announcement of this 

 notable occasion I was moved to the thought that almost 

 anything I could say would seem frivolous in view of the 

 splendid intellectual feast that is spread before you. 



The titles of the papers indicate a most magnificent 

 amount of research and the great names that confront one 

 in this program are an absolute promise of the best that 

 can be produced by the best brains of the best of mankind. 



But, after all, sport fishing is not a frivolous subject and 

 should not be so considered, for it contributes in a very 

 large measure to the happiness of a great many people, and 

 the chief desideratum in life is happiness. The wise fathers, 

 when they builded the fundamental documents of this 

 Government so thought, for Thomas Jefferson positively 

 assumes mankind entitled to the right to the pursuit of 

 happiness. Note, he said nothing of its capture, which was 

 a further indication of his great wisdom, for it is probably 

 realized by those of us who have reached middle age that 

 in the pursuit lies the real joy and that the capture or culmi- 

 nation comes but seldom. 



It is something to be thankful for that this is probably 

 not exactly true in the case of the angler. While there is 

 no denying that the preparation for a fishing trip, the travel- 

 ing toward favored water, and the skillful manipulation of 

 his weapons, together with the charm of his surroundings 

 make up a state of happiness for the angler, it still remains 

 probably true that the lifting of his prize in the landing net 

 — the capture — constitutes in his case the attainment of 

 happiness, and hence the angler has exceeded the assump- 

 tion of Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and 

 not only pursues happiness but catches it. 



