CHAPTER XIII 



THE BLACK SEA BASS AND OTHER LARGE 

 FISH 



' But why, good fisherman, 

 Am I thought meet for you, that never yet 

 Had angling rod cast towards me 1 ' 



Moll Cutpurae {1611). 



THE ardent trout lover or angler is rarely a devoted sea angler. 

 If pressed for a reason lie will often teU you tliat the joys 

 of scenery, the radiant streams and meadows that reach away 

 to the sky-line, the flowers and Waltonian diversifications, are 

 entirely absent. 



This may be true in some localities, but not in aU, as the sea 

 has its gardens, its vales of peace, its meadows rich with algae, 

 its deep and abysmal canons, its mountains and wealth of glorious 

 colours. In fact, as I close my eyes and pass in review the scenes 

 I have observed beneath the sea on the Florida reefs and on the 

 slopes of the great island mountains of Santa CataUna and San 

 Clemente, I can hardly conceive of anything more beautiful in 

 the fairest gardens of the land from California to England and 

 again to Mortola of Sir Thomas Hanbury on the Eiviera, which I 

 hold in delightful remembrance. 



Sea and land gardens are equally beautiful, but so entirely 

 different that they cannot be compared, and I confess that in 

 waters where there is nothing but fish, and nothing to see, mere 

 fishing palls on the imagiaation. 



To me, one great charm of sea angUng lies in the fact that 

 in pursuit of the game the angler is led iato the fairest and most 

 beautiful oceanic regions, where Nature is always at her best. 



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