A merican Game-FisJtes 



tive fighting ability of their favorites, and 

 discussions thereof are generally futile. 

 Doubtless it is the element of delicacy 

 which has given fly-fishing its pre-emi- 

 nence in the estimation of anglers. No 

 greater skill is demanded to excel with 

 the fly than in minnow-casting, or in 

 casting the worm in " North Country " 

 style ; but with the delicate rod and tackle 

 called for by fly-casting the angler derives 

 more pleasure, or at least more kinds of 

 pleasure, than in any other way. And it 

 is for similar reasons, no doubt, that those 

 fish which are known as reliable risers, at 

 least in certain seasons, are those by which 

 most store is set. 



Locality, opportunity, and personal pre- 

 dilection make specialists of anglers. In 

 our great country one who does not make 

 an occupation of his pastime can practi- 

 cally know but a few of the enormous 

 number of fine fishes in its fresh waters, 

 or along its shores. The limits of a mag- 

 azine article will admit only a part of 

 those which have given the writer pleas- 

 ure in his occasional holidays. Some of 

 these occupy, by common consent of 

 anglers, places of honor ; others are less 

 known or more slightly esteemed ; but 

 since they are, if properly fished for, truly 

 228 



