vi Preface 



are over forty state associations devoted to the 

 protection of fish and game, with a membership 

 of over forty-two hundred. Besides these there 

 are a number of clubs like the Tarpon Club of 

 Aransas Pass, Texas, the Tuna Club of Santa 

 Catalina, the Striped Bass Club of San Fran- 

 cisco, and others, which have so shaped public 

 opinion that unsportsmanlike methods are rapidly 

 becoming things of the past. 



Every sea-angler has his peculiar methods, his 

 rods, knots, lines, and hooks, and I may be par- 

 doned for giving my own experiences among the 

 great game fishes referred to in this volume, all 

 of which I have taken many times in years spent, 

 winter and summer, on the Florida Reef, among 

 the Californian islands, and along the seaboard 

 of nearly every state where fishes can be caught. 

 These personal experiences are supplemented by 

 the prevailing methods of the various localities 

 so far as known. 



While the volume is addressed to anglers from 

 the sportsman's standpoint, data has been added 

 relating to the structure, habits, measurements, 

 geographical distribution, nomenclature, economic 

 value of the fishes, and such other matter as 

 would interest the sportsman-naturalist. The 



