CHAPTER I

THE HOLY ANGLERS

"The greater number of them [Christ's disciples] were found together, fishing, by Jesus, after His Resurrection."--IZAAK WALTON.

"... certain poor fishermen coming in very weary after a night of toil (and one of them very wet after swimming ashore) found their Master standing on the bank of the lake waiting for them. But it seems that He must have been busy in their behalf while he was waiting; for there was a bright fire of coals on the shore, and a goodly fish broiling thereon, and bread to eat with it. And when the Master had asked them about their fishing he said: 'Come, now, and get your breakfast.' So they sat down around the fire, and with His own hands he served them with the bread and the fish."--HENRY VAN DYKE.

"The first men that our Saviour dear Did choose to wait upon Him here. Blest fishers were...." W. BASSE.

"I would ... fish in the sky whose bottom is pebbly with stars."--THOREAU.

The principal fishes of the Sea of Galilee to-day are the same as they were two thousand years ago--bream and chub. These were taken in olden times by both net and hook and line.

The fishermen whom Christ chose as His disciples--Peter. Andrew, James, and John--were professional net fishermen, but hook and line fishing was a favorite pastime of the well-to-do Egyptians as well as the poor people who could not afford a net.

Weirs not unlike the modern article were used in the Holy Land in Bible time, excepting on Lake Gennesaret, where the law of the land forbade them.

The bream and the chub were eaten alike by rich and poor people. Wayfarers roasted them over chip fires in the groves and on the lake shores, housewives boiled and broiled them, and the wealthy man served them at his banquets. "Moses, the friend of God," writes Izaak Walton, in his immortal _Compleat Angler_, quoting from Lev. xi., 9, Deut., xiv., 9, "appointed fish to be the chief diet for the best commonwealth that ever yet was. The mightiest feasts have been of fish."

Our Saviour "fed the people on fish when they were hungry." The species is not alluded to in the Biblical paragraph, but no doubt the fish feasts of the Lord were mostly of chub and bream. Jesus loved fishermen and was in their society most of His time. No other class of men were so well favored by Him. He inspired St. Peter, St. John, St. Andrew, and St. James, poor fishermen, who drew their nets for the people, and these four fishermen, declares Father Izaak, "He never reproved for their employment or calling, as he did scribes and money changers."

The Lord's favorite places of labor and repose--the places He most frequented--were near the fishes and fisherman. "He began to teach by the seaside. His pulpit was a fishing boat or the shore of a lake. He was in the stern of the boat, asleep. He was always near the water to cheer and comfort those who followed it." And Walton tells us that "when God intended to reveal high notions to His prophets He carried them to the shore, that He might settle their mind in a quiet repose."

Bream and chub are not monster fishes--they do not average the great weights of the tarpon and the tuna; they are of the small and medium-size species; so, if the apostles were pleased with "ye gods and little fishes," we mortals of to-day should be satisfied with our catch, be it ever so small.

APPELLATIONS OF THE TROUTS

Trout, Bear: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Beardslee: _See_ Crescent Lake Blue-Back Trout, Black-spotted Salmon Trout, Blue-Back: _See_ Oquassa Trout Trout, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Canada: _See_ Greenland Trout Trout, Canada Sea: _See_ Brook Trout and Greenland Trout Trout, Colorado River: _See_ Black-Spotted Trout, Columbia River: _See_ Black-Spotted Trout, Cousin: _See_ Roach Trout, Crescent Lake Blue-Back Trout, Crescent Lake Long-Headed Trout, Crescent Lake Speckled Trout, Dolly Varden: _See_ Malma Trout Trout, Dublin Pond Trout, European Brown Trout, Fresh-Water Cod: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Golden: _See_ Rainbow Salmon Trout and Sunapee Trout, Great Lakes: _See_ Mackinaw Trout, Green: _See_ Black Bass Trout, Green-Back Trout, Greenland Trout, Hard-Head: _See_ Steel-Head Salmon Trout Trout, Jordan Trout, Kansas River: _See_ Kansas River Salmon Trout Trout, Kern River: _See_ Rainbow Trout, Lac de Marbre Trout, Lake Trout, Lake Salmon: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Lake Southerland Salmon Trout, Lake Southerland Spotted: _See_ Jordan's Trout Trout, Lake Tahoe: _See_ Lake Tahoe Salmon Trout Trout, Lewis: _See_ Yellowstone Trout Trout, Loch Leven Trout, Lunge: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Mackinaw: _See_ Mackinaw Lake Trout Trout, Mackinaw Lake Trout, Malma Trout, Marston: _See_ Lac de Marbre Trout Trout, Mountain: _See_ Brook Trout, Small-Mouth Black Bass, and Rainbow Salmon Trout Trout, Mt. Whitney: _See_ Rainbow Trout, Mucqua Lake: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Namaycush: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Namaycush Lake Trout, Nissuee: _See_ Rainbow Trout, Noshee: _See_ Rainbow Trout, Oquassa Trout, Pickerel: _See_ Long Island Pickerel Trout, Pickerel: _See_ Long Island Pickerel Trout, Pike: _See_ Long Island Pickerel Trout, Pike: _See_ Long Island Pickerel Trout, Rainbow: _See_ Rainbow Salmon Trout Trout, Rainbow Lake: _See_ Rainbow Salmon Trout Trout, Red: _See_ Lac de Marbre Trout Trout, Red-Spotted: _See_ Malma Trout Trout, Rio Grande: _See_ Rio Grande Salmon Trout Trout, Rio Grande Salmon Trout, Saibling Trout, Salmon Trout, Sea: _See_ Greenland Trout and Brook Trout Trout, Silver: _See_ Black-Spotted Salmon Trout and Lake Tahoe Salmon Trout Trout, Siskawitz: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Siscowet: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Stone's: _See_ Rainbow Trout, Sunapee Trout, Tahoe Trout, Togue: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Truckee: _See_ Lake Tahoe Trout, Tuladi: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Utah Trout, Waha Lake: _See_ Waha Lake Salmon Trout Trout, Waha Lake Salmon Trout, Western Oregon Brook: _See_ Rainbow Trout, White: _See_ Sunapee Trout, Winipiseogee: _See_ Lake Trout Trout, Yellow-Fin Trout, Yellowstone