WHAT ARE GAME FISH. 11 



the victim shall be conquered or not, when once fast at the end 

 of a line capable of pulling in a yearling bullock. 



On the contrary, it is not the wariness and cunning, but the 

 vigour, the speed, the fierce courage, and determined obstinacy 

 of the true Salmon, the Brook Trout, when of fine size and well 

 fed, the various kinds of larger Pike or Pickerel, the Bass, and 

 some others, which gives such a zest to their capture, as com- 

 pared with the smaller and duller fish, which may be pulled out 

 as fast as a hook can be baited and thrown in ; or the larger 

 and more torpid fish, such as the Lake Trout, the Carp, and 

 the Perches, some of which, after a single boring plunge, resign 

 themselves almost without a struggle, and are mastered with no 

 resistance save that occasioned by their own dead weight. 



I have said, above, that it is upon these qualities of boldness 

 and fierceness, combined with wariness in biting, and of vigour 

 and determination in resistance, apart from any intrinsic value 

 of the fish, or excellence of his flesh, that his rank for gameness 

 must depend. 



It is remarkable, however, that all those fish which are the 

 most game, the boldest, the strongest, the bravest, and the most 

 obstinate, are invariably the finest also for culinary purposes, 

 and the most highly appreciated by the gourmet on the board, 

 as well as by the fisherman in the river or the mere. 



With very few exceptions, the Game Fish are those which do 

 not confine themselves either to salt or fresh water, throughout 

 the year, but visit the one or the other, as their habits and 

 tastes, but principally the propagation of their species, direct 

 them. These migratory fish are, without any exception, the 

 strongest, the boldest, and, as such, aff'ord the best sport of 



