Chapter 23 of The Determined Angler deals with matters of tackle and, in it, Charles Bradford offers us a quotation from the fishing writer James Henshall:
Tackle Tells.—"The quality of gameness in a fish is best determined by the character of the tackle used. A brook trout on a striped bass rod, or a black bass on a tarpon rod, could not, in either case, exhibit its characteristic gameness, or afford any sport to the Angler. Excellent sport with small fishes, however, is now rendered possible owing to the advent of the very light trout rod. It should not be considered beneath the dignity of an Angler to cast the fly for a rock bass, a blue-gill, or a croppie, with a three-ounce rod. Certainly it is just as sportsmanlike as to fish for six-inch brook trout in a meadow brook or a mountain rill."The angler is seen here as owing something to the fish - the opportunity, once hooked, to demonstrate its 'gameness', the strength of its will and its determination to be free. To use tackle that restricts its chance of doing this is represented as essentially unsporting, a refusal to show respect to a worthy adversary. Does this sound old-fashioned? The term 'sporting' isn't heard so much anymore, perhaps, but you will find it still used in certain quarters. Here is an article making an argument comparable with Henshall's but on the subject not of fishing but of long-range shooting. It appeared in the Shooting Gazette in September 2011:
http://www.shootinggazette.co.uk/shootfeatures/529979/Longrange_shooting_is_not_sporting.html
