FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



let it be admitted that the former will attract and 

 hook the most fish. Result — the large hook 

 brings to net two or three fish to the small hook's 

 one. This is not an individual opinion, but an 

 absolute fact based upon the knowledge of practi- 

 cal ouananiche fishermen after many years' practice. 

 It is certainly far better to hook a few fish, and save 

 them, than to prick a quantity with a baby trout fly, 

 and lose them. The possibility of bringing a four 

 or five pound ouananiche to net with a number ten 

 or twelve hook is as remote as that of bringing a 

 tarpon to gaff with a number o bass hook. He who 

 has a hobby will ride it, even if by so-doing he 

 loses a majority of fish hooked. Unreasoning pre- 

 judice should, however, be avoided, and the consen- 

 sus of opinion of experienced anglers followed. 



Pictures, not words, could alone properly describe 

 the fighting qualities of the ouananiche. A series 

 of moving photographs representing the play of a 

 lusty three or four pounder, well hooked, might do 

 the fish justice ; written descriptions cannot. 

 Imagine the black bass at his best, increase his 

 aggressive powers several fold, and you have the 

 ouananiche. While the bass leaps from the water 

 possibly three or four times, the Lake St. John fish 

 is scarcely content with less than eight or ten. 

 Perhaps the best simile would be to compare it to 



80 



