American Gmne-FisJies 



But the gameness of a fish, being meas- 

 ured by the sport his capture gives, may 

 be modified by circumstances quite outside 

 of the fish itself, - - the angler's mood, his 

 tackle, and many other things. The salm- 

 on fisher, for instance, may to-day abhor 

 the splendid sea-trout as " vermin," not 

 from any affectation, not even from the 

 spirit of purism which led to the colored 

 brother's contemptuous rejection of the 

 fine pike because he was " a-catting," but 

 because it has interfered with the pursuit 

 of the salmon, or has been found in the 

 pools or on the spawning-ground of the 

 nobler fish, where it may do great dam- 

 age. To-morrow, properly equipped, he 

 will gladly go to meet the trout at the 

 head of the tide. 



The possibility of getting sport from 

 a fish is especially dependent upon the 

 method of fishing. If one anchors his 

 boat in ten fathoms of water, and sinks 

 his stout hand-line with a lead as heavy as 

 any fish he may reasonably expect to take, 

 he will not much value the gameness of 

 the prey he hales from the depths. But 

 if he study the habits of that fish, and 

 search for his hiding-places in the rocky 

 tideways, or his feeding-places on the 

 shallows, and " angle unto him " with 

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