Excerpt from The Big Game Fishes, of the United States Angling for the great oceanic game fishes, so far as it relates to the tarpon, tuna, black seabass, and others, is a modern pastime. The time was when the definition of game fish included the reservation that it must be edible, like the salmon or trout; but with the coming of the tarpon or the silver king, and the leaping tuna, preconceived notions were revolutionized. What tiger and lion hunting is to the sportsman, the taking of these ocean giants is to the sea-angler, who often takes his life in his hands, as with all the chances on the side of the fish he plays the great game in the open sea from one to fourteen hours. It is wild and strenuous sport, essentially manly, and nowhere is the true sportsmanlike spirit better exemplified than among its votaries who follow the largest fishes with tackle so light that the layman will often doubt the evidence of his eyes. In all the famous localities where gentlemen fish and sea-angling holds, the highest standard of sport prevails. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.