American Game-Fishes 



even into fresh water, affording the angler 

 some of his choicest opportunities. At 

 a single point, about forty miles up the 

 Hudson, the writer has taken the striped 

 bass, the bluefish, the weakfish, the hick- 

 ory shad, and the Lafayette, all sea-fish, 

 amid scenery as beautiful as that of a 

 Highland loch. Even the enormous tar- 

 pon, which may outweigh his captor, is 

 sought for in shallow harbors or estuaries. 

 The capture of the Striped Bass, how- 

 ever, is most satisfactory, as the "setting" 

 seems most appropriate, in the break- 

 ers or in the rocky tideways of the coast. 

 Whether or not the tarpon shall yet oust 

 him from his place, the bass has hitherto 

 been facile princeps among the game-fish 

 of salt water. The admirers of " the 

 salmon of the surf" have even challenged 

 the supremacy of the river king. Beauti- 

 ful, strong, active, and cunning, his taking 

 is a triumph to the angler and a gratifi- 

 cation to the gourmand. There are few 

 more beautiful fish than a bass. His col- 

 ors are more brilliant before he reaches 

 the grandest size; and fish of medium 

 weight ten to thirty pounds are gen- 

 erally thought to be the most active. But 

 the same is true of most fish. There is 

 one particular about the fight of the bass 



255 



