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 
