22 The American Angler 
from its jaws. At slack water, or if the 
tide is very gentle, take the sinker 
off; the weight of the hook and bait 
will make your line settle. To sum 
up: 
Never go fishing for tautog or any 
other fish of fresh or salt water, if you 
MY 
FIRST 
expect the maximum of sport therefrom, 
without reducing your rod and water 
tackle to the minimum of build and 
weight that will carry with it strength 
to hold your fish through the ‘‘ yielding 
resistance’ of your rod, and the ‘‘ give 
and take” play of your reel. 
TROUT. 
Communicated. 
I have tussled with tarpon; 
I've battled with bass; 
I know the run rush 
Of the fierce mascalonge. 
I have wrestled with salmon, 
In many a pass 
Where the mountain walls echo 
The cataract’s plunge. 
But never the rapture, 
The fisherman knows, 
Found utterance glad 
In so joyous a shout, 
As that which in triumph 
Exultingly rose 
When I landed, unaided, 
My first speckled trout— 
That fisherman’s darling 
Of river and lin— 
The bright-spotted beauty 
I hooked with a pin. 
