A merican Game-Fishes 



The platform "stand," so much in vogue 

 at fishing-clubs, we cannot help thinking 

 a mistake. To give so wary a fish the 

 opportunity to silhouette the fisherman 

 against the sky cannot be conducive to 

 success. A shorter cast from a less con- 

 spicuous position, we believe, would take 

 more fish. In shallow water, rivers, estu- 

 aries, and the like, the bass will take the 

 fly ; and the method is well worth the 

 trial. . 



There is an humble kinsman of the 

 bass which has been one of our life-long 

 friends, a game-fish of far more merit than 

 many a higher praised one, the white 

 perch (Morone americana). When young 

 he is the victim of his appetite, and falls 

 the prey of any fisherman with any tackle ; 

 but as he becomes of ripe age he is shy 

 enough. Large ones often are taken by 

 the ambushed angler on the lightest of fly- 

 tackle, when the bait-fisher had abandoned 

 the water as hopeless. Here is the mem- 

 orandum of an afternoon's fishing in early 

 June of last yea^ : 



Let us row up the creek as far as we 

 can. The ebb is, well spent, and it is hard 

 to keep the skiff afloat ; so we land and 

 haul her up, taking the shrimp-seine. A 

 few sweeps in a favorable place give us 



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