INTRODUCTORY. 



In collating the material for this Guide Book, 17,827 special communications, and 

 2500 pages of THE AMERICAN ANGLER and other accredited authorities, have been 

 received, examined and in journalistic parlance, "boiled down." The result is 

 before the reader in the form of 2,105 centre points from whence over 7,000 angling 

 waters are more or less accessible; of these the following data are given: 



1st. How they are reached. 



2nd Distance from nearest point by 

 railroad, or other public transportation 

 routes. 



3rd The species of fish therein. 



4th The fishes that are most abund- 



ant. 



5th The best months for fishing. 

 6th Local baits used. 



8th Accommodations and charges at 

 hotels, also those of private boarding 

 houses. 



9th The favorite grounds, when known, 

 of local anglers. 



10th Cost of guides, boats and bait. 



llth Where salt water exists, the best 

 tide to fish in. 



12th Cost of permits when required. 



7th Methods of local anglers. 

 In addition to the above I have given the quality of the fishing when authenti- 

 cated by my own experience or that of a responsible correspondent. In this 

 connection anglers should bear in mind that fish are erratic in their humors; that 

 in the same water fishing may be good to-day and bad to-morrow; that wind, 

 weather, water and the feeding hours of fish are all essential factors in an angler's 

 success or failure. In waters of which I have no authentic information the reader 

 will find recorded, without comment, the names thereof, distance from station, 

 charges, species of fish caught, etc. 



The plan of compilation which has been adopted, I believe to be the best form 

 for making the Guide Book concise and of ready reference. It was a subject of 

 much thought and several methods were experimented upon, particularly that of 

 classification by waters, but the immense mass of material to be utilized and the 

 geographical range and area of the rivers and lakes, indicated that if this latter 

 form was used, the book would grow to the size of a ponderous encyclopedias 

 rather than the pocket volume in which it now appears. 



I have endeavored to make plain to the angling reader, resident in any section, 

 the perplexity experienced in the identification of a fish under its local name, vary- 

 ing in different localities. In a few instances I have been unable to do this and 

 have called for information from anglers familiar with the fishes and the waters 

 where peculiar names for the former are in use. This confusion exists more gen- 

 erally in the Southern States, particularly for the local names of the salt water fish 

 on the Atlantic coast belt from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to the southern 

 limit of the State of Georgia; also, for the fresh water fishes in the states of Vir- 

 ginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. I urge 

 upon my brother anglers to assist me in simplifying the popular nomenclature 

 of the fishes of the country. 



For errors of omission I can only claim indulgence based on the scope, newness 

 and magnitude of the compilation. Doubtless many fruitful angling waters are 

 not named, owing to my ignorance of their existence, and to the impossibility of 

 covering the entire continent in the first issue of a work of this character, yet of 

 this I am assured, that nearly four thousand excellent fishing "grounds " are here- 

 in located, concerning which I have been entirely ignorant, despite an angling 

 experience of over a quarter of a century. 



To those of our selfish brethren of the angle, if such there be, who are inclined 

 to grow surlily critical over the "giving away "of their favorite waters, I beg to 

 quote what old Walton's Piscator said to Venator over two hundred years ago: 



"Go your way presently; take my rod and do as I bid you, and I will sit down 

 and mend my tackling till you return back." WM. ('. HARRIS. 



