CHAPTER I. 



FLORIDA FISHES AND FISHING. 

 SECTION FIRST. 



" Oh how blest to dwell forever, 



'Mid these scenes of placid peace ! 

 If some power the past could sever, 



If the tones of mem'ry cease, 

 Ah ! not Faith herself dare cherish 



Hopes unstain'd by 'wild'ring fears ; 

 Could we dream the past might perish, 

 What shall quench our future tears? 



Vale of bliss ? what joy to wander % 



Where thy glittering waters flow ! 

 Here, e'en Guilt in peace may ponder ; 

 Here, Despair forget her woe ! " 



To favor the angler with at once a succinct and compre- 

 hensive view of Florida water sports, I premise with the 

 following communication by the pen of Mr. C , an ac- 

 complished sportsman and learned ichthyologist, who has 

 devoted several winters to the field-sports of this genial 

 climate. 



"Mr. G. C. Scott, in his 'Fishing in American Waters,' 

 says, 'It would be well worth while to make an angling tour 

 s'outhward in autumn.' I have been making such a tour this 

 winter, the results of which I will give you : my first fishing 

 was at New Smyrna, near Musquito Inlet, in East Florida. 

 Here I found an excellent boarding-house, kept by Mr. E. K. 

 Lowd, which is truly the sportsman's home. The sheepshead 

 is here the principal fish, and its numbers may be judged by 

 an extract from my journal : 



"March 15. Fished one hour on flood tide, with hand-line 

 and clam bait, from boat anchored to mangrove bushes 

 fifteen fish, weight sixty pounds. 



