GROWTH 75 



1906 — Wm. Robson, Harwood, Rice Lake, fish caught in 



Rice Lake, 7 lbs., 3 ozs. 

 1907 — J. C. Bloomer. Toronto, fish caught in Lake Koshee, 



6 lbs., 8 ozs. 

 1909 — Johnnie Anderson, Malta, fish caught in Lake Koshee, 



6 lbs., 6 ozs. 



It is difficult to make any suggestions, either to amateurs 

 or to veterans, who may be ambitious enough to try to eclipse 

 these records; for the beginner may accidentally land a big 

 fish, whilst the veteran may fish all his life and get none but 

 those of mediocre size and weight. Two general rules, how- 

 ever, may be laid down for the guidance of anglers: firstly, 

 to fish in unfrequented lakes of small dimensions, where food 

 is plentiful and therefore the fish are likely to reach a great 

 size ; and, secondly, to fish in all possible places, at all possible 

 times, making angling a chief pastime, so that, by the doc- 

 trine of probabilities, one may, during the course of a long 

 life, chance to get a fish of record size; always remembering 

 that there are bigger fish in the sea than were ever taken out 

 by the hand of man. 



My own experience has been that of the average individual : 

 the only large fish I ever caught was one taken in August, 

 1878, in Four-mile Lake, near Coboconk, weighing 6 lbs., 

 4 ozs.; another, which I caught in July, 1888, at Lac St. 

 Joseph, north of the City of Quebec, (one of the few lakes in 

 the Province of Quebec which used to contain small-mouthed 

 bass), weighed 5 lbs., 3 ozs. 



But I have a dim recollection that, as a small boy, I was 

 accustomed to go angling every summer, during June and 

 July, to the aforementioned Four-mile Lake, and that once, 

 when fishing from the top of a fallen pine tree which pro- 

 jected over the edge of the lake, I was pulled into the water 

 by a monstrous bass, which always haunted this Pine Tree 

 Top and had become famous, all the country round, as a 

 destroyer of lines, rods and baits; and that, some days after- 



