28o Fish Stories 



Bill catches the leader and impales a minnow. You notice 

 that he does this very carefully, so that the fish is not tor- 

 tured, which makes you think more of Bill than ever. 



All is ready. The sky just slightly lowery, not suggestive 

 of rain, but a warm, dreamy day. The sun has been up 

 over the horizon only twenty minutes and the wind has not 

 risen, the great stretch of river, running rapidly in places, 

 almost quiet here. Bill heads for the east and announces 

 that he will try the shores of Grenadier, as you have agreed 

 to meet a number of other boats at a certain island for a 

 fish dinner at noon. 



Bill has a weakness — he is fond of stories and has been 

 snowed in all winter ; this is his first pull, and as he puffs the 

 fragrant cigar which you picked out for him in Montreal, 

 he says : 



" I 'spose you haven't heard any new stories, sir ? " 



" Give him ' Aunt Jane,' " laughs your companion, and 

 Bill moderates his stroke while you tell the story that is 

 several months old, but new to him. 



Your boat glides along the rocky cliff, your rod out to 

 the left, your companion's to the right, the tip bending gently 

 in a suggestive manner, the speed of the boat being so regu- 

 lated that the minnow moves along two inches below the 

 surface in a manner at once natural and nonchalant. There 

 is positive delight in this gentle art, which Walton loved so 

 well, as followed in these waters, as, did not the bass bite, 

 the eye is constantly regaled with never-ending change of 

 scenery. 



The boat follows the undulations of the island ; now in a 

 quiet bay where the sunfish makes its home ; now facing the 

 broad reach of channel toward the Canada side, and always 

 within a few feet of the shore, as the bass affects shallow 

 water or shoals. Now we skirt an island scarcely large 

 enough to alight upon, and as the boat passes on, zeeee- 

 zeeeel screams the silver reel in protest, deeply bending the 

 slender rod, and something is away with the St. Patrick fly. 



