CALIFORNIA PISH AND GAME. 113 



Whereas, a small fish has generally numerous relatives close by, ali of 

 whom are on the lookout for anything that looks good. 



Now come carefully round this piece of brush and get down and 

 crawl up towards the bank. 



Tourist : Well, look at that fish, you can see the spots on him. Try 

 and catch him. 



Angler : Wait a minute ; let 's watch him feed ; maybe we can learn 

 something useful by watching him. If you notice, there is a patch of 

 weed that comes almost to the surface. This restricts the stream and 

 makes a little stretch of sharp current close under the bank. The fish 

 keeps his position just at the lower end of this sharper stream and 

 faces up stream watching for 'hoppers. Here comes a 'hopper. See 

 the fish move a little to one side. Then see, just at the right moment 

 he'll come to the surface and take it down. 



Tourist : That certainly is a fine fish ; look at him ! Say, try and 

 catch him. 



Angler: All right, here goes. Well, did you see that? There was a 

 real grasshopper a little nearer the fish than my fly was and he took 

 that and never even noticed the fly. 



Well, I'll try again when there are no real 'hoppers in sight to dis- 

 tract his attention. 



Now is the time : watch the fly. 

 Tourist: Good, he's taken it. 



Angler: Keep down; don't show yourself to the fish till you have to. 

 You go down to that point of gravel and I'll bring the fish in. But 

 don't stand up till you have the fish in the net. 

 Tourist: He is trying to get into those weeds. 



Angler: Yes, he knows that once there, he has a good chance of 

 getting off. 



He's beginning to get tired now, but as this is a good sized fish I 

 shall not bring him in until he is quite worn out. 



See that? He turned on his side ; but it's not quite time yet, he has 

 straightened up again. However, it won't be long now. There, put 

 the net down low in the water and I will bring the fish in. 

 Tourist: Say, that's some fish! See what he weighs. 

 Angler: Three and a quarter pounds, and only 18:^ inches long. 

 Now, I want you to catch something. Before we begin fishing 

 again, I'll break the fly off and tie it on again. 

 Tourist : Why do you do that ? 



Angler: Because the gut has necessarily become weakened at the 

 knot. Also you see how slimy and wet the fly is. It does not look 

 as though it would ever be dry again. I'll just slam the fly onto the 

 water and jerk it through a few times; that will wash the slime off. 

 Next I'll press the fly between this little pad. It is almost dry now, 

 but to complete the drying process, while w^e're walking down to 

 the next feeding fish I'll make some false casts in the air. I am going 

 to cast the fly on that shallow water. What did I tell you? It's 

 absolutely 'bone dry' again. 



Tourist: What is that little pad made off 



Angler : It is a piece of amadou, which is a fungus with the 

 properties of absorbing moisture very rapidly. 



