FISHING TACKLE AND COMMENTS 



take the form of orders on sporting-goods stores for fishing 

 tackle or other equipment, or else pay off in Government 

 bonds? Certainly anyone who accepts a cash prize in a fish- 

 ing tournament becomes an out-and-out professional, just as 

 a golfer or tennis player does. In fishing, a professional is 

 classified as one who receives money either from the charter 

 party or the boat owners for taking people fishing. When 

 anglers accept money for prizes it is only proper that they be 

 put in the same category. I don't even approve of the practice 

 of giving guides or their mates any kind of a cash bonus for 

 fishing the winning angler. Too much money being a tempta- 

 tion, the practice may easily introduce unethical methods 

 into the sport. Don't get the idea that I am against profes- 

 sional sports. Some of my best friends are professional 

 hockey and baseball players, and these two games, played by 

 some of the finest and best sportsmen in America, have no 

 more ardent devotee than I. Furthermore, I would gladly 

 have played professional hockey at the drop of a puck if I 

 were good enough. 



I will close this discourse on do's and don'ts with two more 

 suggestions— important ones. Don't feel that you have to test 

 every line by tying it around a tree or a dock and then run- 

 ning it off in an automobile to break it before you take it on 

 the fishing grounds. Don't feel that you have to put a weight 

 on every rod that you purchase and lift it off the bottom 

 alongside some dock. All the fishing tackle and lines made 

 are tested by the makers and put through stresses and strains 

 that they will never possibly be called on to resist in actual 

 fishing. The real test is what they will do in open water. In 

 some parts of the United States this fetish of testing lines 



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