PREFACE 
Anc.ine for the great oceanic game fishes, so 
far as it relates to the tarpon, tuna, black sea- 
bass, and others, is a modern pastime. The time 
was when the definition of game fish included the 
reservation that it must be edible, like the salmon 
or trout; but with the coming of the tarpon or 
the silver king, and the leaping tuna, precon- 
ceived notions were revolutionized. What tiger 
and lion hunting is to the sportsman, the taking 
of these ocean giants is to the sea-angler, who 
often takes his life in his hands, as with all the 
chances on the side of the fish he plays the great 
game in the open sea from one to fourteen hours. 
It is wild and strenuous sport, essentially manly, 
and nowhere is the true sportsmanlike spirit 
better exemplified than among its votaries who 
follow the largest fishes with tackle so light that 
the layman will often doubt the evidence of his 
eyes. In all the famous localities where gentle- 
men fish and sea-angling holds, the highest stand- 
ard of sport prevails. In California alone there 
