FRANK FORESTER'S 

 FISH AND FISHING, 



THE GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. 



It is with fishing as a sport, not as a source of national wealth or 

 individual epicureanism, that 1 have to do ; therefore it is of game or 

 sporting fishes only that I propose to treat. 



Again, it is true that no sportsman captures that, which, captured, is 

 worthless ; and that to be game, whether bird, beast, or fish, is to be 

 eatable. Therefore it is of eatable* fishes alone that I propose to treat. 



By game fish, I understand those which, being eatable, will take the 

 natural or artificial bait with suflicient avidity, and which when hooked 

 have suflicient vigor, courage and velocity to offer such resistance, and 

 give such difficulty to the captor, as to render the pursuit exciting. 



By these qualities of the fish, corresponding qualities of the fisher- 

 man are called forth, and the greater the wariness of the fish before 

 taking the hook, compelling the use of the most delicate tackle, the 

 greater his fury and activity when struck, requiring the nicest skill, 

 temper and judgment, the higher does he stand on the list ; and by 



Note to Revised Edition. — It will be readily seen that the phraseology of this 

 page is altered in this edition. It is so, not that I have taken any new ground, but 

 because it appears my language was not so definite as to enable all persons to under- 

 stand what that ground is. I certainly supposed it unnecessary to state so self-evi- 

 dent a fact as that game is eatable. 



* Hence my non-mention of that very curious fish, the Garpike or Alligator. Gar, 

 Esox Osaexas. He is no more game than the Shark or Dog-Fish, both of which 

 men catch for fun. 



