FROM "GAME FISH OF THE NORTH." 219 



off, leaving your flies probably in a most inconvenient 

 place and many feet below the surface of the water. 

 But remember the oft-repeated maxim of a friend of 

 the writer, who had been with him many a joyous 

 fishing day, " That one trout hooked is worth a dozen 

 not hooked." Small trout are more apt to escape than 

 large ones, because the skin around the month of the 

 latter is tougher. With either, however, there is risk 

 enough. The hook is small, and often takes but a 

 slight hold ; the gut is delicate, and frequently half 

 worn through by continual casting. Fish are, in a 

 majority of instances, hooked in the corner of the 

 upper jaw, where there is but a thin skin to hold them ; 

 by long continued struggling the hole wears larger, and 

 finally, to the agony of the fisherman, the hook slips 

 out. 



There are occasions when force must be exerted, and 

 then good tackle and a well-made rod will repay the 

 cost. At dusk, one night, I cautiously approached the 

 edge of a newly made pond, that was as full of stumps 

 as of fish, both being about the extreme limit, and 

 casting into the clear water struck a fine fish of three- 

 quarters of a pound. Not a minute's grace did he re- 

 ceive, but I lugged and he fought, and after a general 

 turmoil I succeeded in bringing him to land, in spite of 

 weeds and stumps and twigs, which he did his best to 

 reach. The same was done with seven fish after a loss 

 of only three flies and with a rod that weighed only 

 eight ounces. 



