have grown up to that. When
I read a naturalist or a biologist I am always ashamed of what I have
called a sport. Yet one of the truths of evolution is that not to
practise strife, not to use violence, not to fish or hunt--that is to
say, not to fight--is to retrograde as a natural man. Spiritual and
intellectual growth is attained at the expense of the physical.

Always, then, when I am fishing I feel that the fish are incidental, and
that the reward of effort and endurance, the incalculable and intangible
knowledge emanate from the swelling and infinite sea or from the shaded
and murmuring stream. Thus I assuage my conscience and justify the fun,
the joy, the excitement, and the violence.

Five years ago I had never heard of a bonefish. The first man who ever
spoke to me about this species said to me, very quietly with serious
intentness: "Have you had any experience with bonefish?" I said no, and
asked him what kind that was. His reply was enigmatical. "Well, don't go
after bonefish unless you can give up all other fishing." I remember I
laughed. But I never forgot that remark, and now it comes back to me
clear in its significance. That fisherman read me as well as I
misunderstood him.

Later that season I listened to talk of inexperienced bonefishermen
telling what they had done and heard. To me it was absurd. So much
fishing talk seems ridiculous, anyway. And the expert fishermen,
wherever they were, received the expressive titles: "Bonefish Bugs and
Bonefish Nuts!" Again I heard arguments about tackle rigged for these
mysterious fish and these arguments fixed my vague impression. By and by
some bonefishermen came to Long Key, and the first sight of a bonefish
made me curious. I think it weighed five pounds--a fair-sized specimen.
Even to my prejudiced eye that fish showed class. So I began to question
the bonefishermen.

At once I found this type of angler to be remarkably reticent as to
experience and method. Moreover, the tackle used was amazing to me.
Stiff rods and heavy lines for little fish! I gathered another
impression, and it was that bonefish were related to dynamite and chain
lightning. Everybody who would listen to my questions had different
things to say. No two men agreed on tackle or bait or ground or
anything. I enlisted the interest of my brother R. C., and we decided,
just to satisfy curiosity, to go out and catch some bonefish. The
complacent, smug conceit of fishermen! I can see now how fu