DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 91 



questions that I asked, but I supplemented them with : 

 'Next time your float goes under, tighten your hne 

 and wait until 3'ou feel a stronger pull than your 

 bait can give.' 



My friend was in great form after the taking of 

 his first fish, and, when he got a second of nine pounds 

 before I had a run, he had much to say. He became 

 quite eloquent on the merits of stiff rods, and wound 

 that subject up by asking me, 'What's the use of a rod 

 that grips if it does no gripping?' and then, without 

 waiting for reply, he turned his attention to my float 

 and tried his best to delude me into striking at its antics. 



Fortune came to me just as my companion's tongue 

 was broaching Theory v. Practice. My float, that had 

 cut so many capers, relieved of its load by the rising 

 of the bait, toppled on its side and disappeared. 

 I allowed the fish to draw quite three yards of line and 

 then struck as near as I could in the opposite direction 

 to where it pointed, and, as it continued on its course, 

 I struck again and held to it as tightly as I dared until 

 I felt the fish shake its head, and then I knew he had 

 spit the bait out and was hooked. After a httle coaxing 

 the doctor took my rod and confessed, when he had 

 killed the fish, thirteen pounds, that there was a greater 

 pleasure to be got from my pliant rod than from his 

 stiff one. While I was holding his I felt almost sure 

 a small fish was worrying his bait, so I brought it 

 back little by little and, when near, we saw a jack, 

 not more than a pound, tr^ang to compass the centre 

 of the dace with its little jaws. The bait was very little 

 damaged, but I was proceeding to substitute another 

 when the doctor said : 'What ! going to change it, 

 Geen? Don't, please. I've never known a jack- 

 marked bait fail to catch a fish. Here, take back j^our 

 rod and give me mine.' 



His behef in teeth-marked baits was strengthened 

 almost immediately, and he did not forget to say, 

 'What did I tell you?' as he struck in answer to a pull. 



