THE SMALL GAME FISHES OF FLOEIDA 



attractive feature of the East is eliminated, but it means cool 

 nights for sleep. On the Gulf coast of Texas, as at Aransas and 

 other passes near Corpus Christi, the heat is in force in August 

 when angling for tarpon, but there is little discomfort out on the 

 water where there is a constant breeze coming in over the Gulfy 

 a breeze that is piling up the sand dunes and blowing the 

 mosquitoes into the bay. 



The big fishes of the Florida Eeef and the peninsula regioa 

 that appeal to the angler are the barracuda, black grouper, the 

 sword- or sailfish, amber- jack, tarpon, kingflsh and its cousin,, 

 and several more — ^you can count them on the fingers of two 

 hands ; but when it comes to the small fry, there are seemingly 

 myriads ; the grunts, a motley, bespangled, throng, the famiUars. 

 of every shoal, reef, or mangrove lagoon ; grunts (and they da 

 grunt) in red and yellow, grunts in gold and silver, grunts in black 

 and white, and their cousins ad infinitum. When everything- 

 else fails the grunts are there, you cannot miss them, and it can 

 be said that fried grunt would have been commended by LucuUus 

 himself. ' Grunts and grits ' mean something in Florida. 

 This feature of the grunt covers a multitude of sins of omission, 

 as it is only by a fierce tug at the imagination that the inter- 

 esting little ' nibbler ' can be considered a game fish, though on 

 a two- or three-ounce split bamboo rod he will make the welkia 

 of the reef ring for a limited time. 



One cannot live long in Florida without hearing of the 

 snappers. He will see a red snapper fisherman who sends his. 

 catch to Ifew York or Havana. These are taken in deep holes, 

 or at certain places in the Gulf, on hand-hnes, and do not afford 

 much sport except of the hand-Hue variety. But there is another 

 group of snappers that, to me at least (and I know them weU)^ 

 are among the most beautiful of all sea fishes ; not for their gor- 

 geous colours or flaming tints ; as the parrot-fishes, the coral 

 or paradise-fishes, which live with them around the coral heads^ 

 are far more brilliant ; but the snappers are beautiful in the- 

 sense of artistic richness, dignity, purity, and simplicity of 



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