CHAPTER XXVII 



PROBLEMS OF FISH AND FISHING 



You might have the rivers as pure as the crystals of the rock, beautiful 

 in falls, in lakes, and in living pools so full of fish that you might take 

 them out with your hands. RUSKIN 



Now what happens if, after each one of the natural enemies has claimed 

 its victims, a new enemy not provided for by Nature suddenly attacks the 

 few adult survivors which Nature has provided to perpetuate the species ? 

 What happens when the last drop falls into the brimming bucket ? What 

 happens when the proverbial last straw is put on the load ? It may be quite 

 true that, for each codfish which man catches, the natural enemies destroy a 

 million. That has no bearing on the subject. Nature has provided for the de- 

 struction of the million. Before their birth they were destined to premature 

 death. The one was reserved by Nature for another purpose. W. K. BROOKS 



After all that has been said about anglers and angling, two thirds of the 

 line fishing of the world is done by boys. The boy may fish with a fly, but 

 he does not spontaneously take to this method. Fly fishing is an art, a fine 

 art beyond a doubt, but it is an art and, like all art, it is artificial. Fishing 

 with an angleworm is natural. It fits into the need of the occasion. It fits 

 in with the spirit of the boy. . . . The angleworm is perfectly at home on 

 the hook. It is not quite comfortable anywhere else. It crawls about on the 

 sidewalks after a rain, bleached and emaciated. It is never quite at ease 

 even in the ground, but on the hook it rests peacefully, with the apparent 

 feeling that its natural mission is performed. HOLDER and JORDAN, "Fish 

 Stories," p. 237 



Civic problems. Are the waters of your neighborhood 

 stocked with the best fishes (for food and sport) that are 

 suited to them? Are they supplied with such numbers as the 

 lakes, streams, and ponds can reasonably support ? Are the 

 waters clean and clear, unpolluted by the wash of soil not 

 properly held on the farms, where it belongs, by chemical 

 wastes from factories, or by sawdust from lumber mills, so that 

 they remain well adapted to the valuable fishes native to 



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