Bait Angling for Common Fishes 



pleasure of new slaughter of living fish, till 

 the whole surface of the water is a moving 

 mass of wounded and cut-up fish, with a 

 flock of gulls following on to get the frag- 

 ments. Thus the element of cruelty is no 

 factor; it is not even business, but the sur- 

 vival of the fittest. It would be idle to 

 claim that fish feel no pain, but it is certain 

 that when impaled on the hook, either by 

 the lips or on the roof of the mouth, the 

 pain is not half so annoying as the restraint 

 of their liberty. We repeatedly catch a 

 fish with a hook in his mouth lost by a 

 previous angler. A fish is sure to die 

 quickly, even if lifted harmlessly from the 

 water which gives it life. There is a great 

 difference between drowning a cat and kill- 

 ing a fish by exposure to the air we breathe, 

 the one makes frantic efforts to avoid the 

 choking sensation and struggles to escape, 

 the other calmly and quietly ceases to exist, 

 without pain or perceptible quiver, its 

 jumping being merely an endeavor to get 

 back to water, and naturally pursue the 

 150 



