TALES OF FISHES 



to flaunt its use in the faces of fishermen of experience 

 and established reputation. Long Key, now the 

 most noted fishing resort on the Atlantic coast, was 

 not many years back a place for hand-lines and huge 

 rods and tackle, and boat-loads of fish for one man. 

 It has become a resort for gentlemen anglers, and 

 its sportsmen's club claims such experts and fine 

 exponents of angling as Heilner, Lester, Cassiard, 

 Crowninshield, Comll, the Schutts, and others, who 

 can safely be trusted to advance the standard. 

 Fishermen are like sheep — they follow the boldest 

 leaders. And no one wants to be despised by the 

 elect. Long Key, with its isolation, yet easy ac- 

 cession, its beauty and charm, its loneliness and 

 quiet, its big game fish, will become the Mecca of 

 high-class light-tackle anglers, who will in time 

 answer for the ethics and sportsmanship of the At- 

 lantic seaboard. 



On the Pacific side the light-tackle advocates have 

 had a different row to hoe. With nothing but keen, 

 fair, honest, and splendid zealousness Mr. James 

 Jump has pioneered this sport almost single-handed 

 against the heavy-tackle record-holder who until 

 recently dominated the Tuna Club and the boat- 

 men and the fishing at Avalon. To my shame and 

 regret I confess that it took me three years to recog- 

 nize Jump's bigness as an angler and his tenacity 

 as a fighter. But I shall make amends. It seems 

 when I fished I was steeped in dreams of the sea 

 and the beauty of the lonely islands. I am not in 

 Jump's class as a fisherman, nor in Lone Angler's, 

 either. They stand by themselves. But I can write 

 about them, and so inspire others. 



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