XVI 

 BLANKS AND TROUBLES 



ATER reading such persuasive words as 

 those which are quoted from " Red 

 Spinner's" "Waterside Sketches," none 

 of us should complain overmuch even if 

 we have caught no fish to-day. "Red Spinner" 

 says all that can be said concerning a day in the 

 country when the tally of fish caught stands at 

 nil, but when the surroundings have been 

 beautiful and the spirit has been refreshed and 

 strengthened. But there are blanks and blanks. 

 Those discussed in the following pages are mostly 

 of the second kind ! 



I think that one of the worst blank days is 

 one not caused by your fishing merits or de- 

 merits, but by such a malign chance as causes you, 

 when you have gone miles to fish and are safely 

 arrived, to find that you have left your reel behind 

 you. It adds to the blankness if the car which 

 brought you has departed and is already out of 

 sight before you discover the fatal fact. One 

 worthy angler at a Devonshire hotel had a tre- 

 mendous tramp back to get his forgotten reel and 

 it took a large piece out of the day's fishing. 



