s/m/ 



Preface 



A^ ALLEGED humorist once proposed the 

 query, "Are all fishermen liars, or do only 

 liars go fishing?" This does not seem to me to be 

 funny. It is doubtless true that a cynical atti- 

 tude of suspicion and doubt is often exhibited 

 on the recital of a fishing exploit. I believe the 

 joke editors of magazines and newspapers are 

 responsible for the spread of the propaganda of 

 ridicule, skepticism and distrust of all fish yarns, 

 regardless of their source. The same fellows 

 have a day of reckoning ahead, for the circula- 

 tion of that ancient but still overworked mother- 

 in-law joke. 



It is quite possible that some amateur fisher- 

 men, wishing to pose as experts, are guilty of 

 expanding the size or number of their catch, 

 upon reporting the same. But I cannot con- 

 ceive of a motive sufficient to induce one skilled 

 in handling the rod to lie about his fish. The 

 truth always sounds better and in the case of a 

 fish story, truth is often stranger than any fish 

 fiction. 



In my own experience and observation I have 

 found that the more improbable a fish story 

 sounds the more likely it is to be true. The in- 



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