THE SMALL GAME FISHES OF FLOEIDA 



how the sirens enticed him on to a reef where all hands, including 

 himself, were lost. In a word, he is a man of imagination, ready 

 at a moment's notice to see anything, of any size, shape, or colour. 

 He is a philosopher ; he knows that if he did tell the truth no 

 one would believe him, so why worry ? Why not revel in the 

 dehghts of the imagination ? 



Almost every angler knows such a man, who makes Uf e longer 

 and joUier for himself, and shorter for the fishes. I have fished 

 with such an angler not far from Biscayne Bay, down the keys, 

 and the reference to the dog-fish ' that really did growl at a 

 stingaree ' reminds me of days of delight we had in fishing for the 

 small fishes of the Florida reef — the dog-fish that growled, 

 grunts that grunted, porcupine fish that hissed and cUcked, 

 and stingaree that was growled at, the leopard-shark, and many 

 more, all the familiars of the great reef, the advance guard of 

 Florida, now bounded and cemented into a spinal cord by the 

 new railroad by which the angler can go aboard in New York in a 

 snowstorm, and awake, if he sleeps long enough and not longer 

 than the average angler cares to sleep, and find himself in the 

 Tropics, on the great fishing grounds of the Gulf of Mexico. 



Such is the vogue of the big game fishes in California and 

 Florida that one almost loses sight of the many smaU ones that 

 afford the wandering angler such pleasurable sport. Florida 

 in particular is the home of countless fishes ranging in weight up 

 to six or eight pounds, or even ten, which are delight-givers in 

 more ways than one. To some a fish must appeal to the shade 

 of Lucullus ; to others the game is played under the banner of 

 St. Zeno alone ; but for you and for me a happy combination 

 is desirable, the fish must be a hard fighter and a generous pan- 

 fish as well. Most of the fishes referred to in this chapter come 

 under this head. 



Florida and CaUfornia, especially in the southern part of each 

 State, are, in all probabUity, the most famous fishing grounds 

 in the civilized world. It is not fish alone that makes good fishing. 

 I have seen fish biting about certain keys in Florida in August, 



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