26 Sporting Sketches 



tion. Stationary or moving, a fish is apt to appear 

 from four inches to a foot nearer to the surface than 

 it actually is, the amount of refraction varying with 

 the depth of water. The grains must, therefore, be 

 aimed ahead of and seemingly below a moving fish 

 to strike true. When the game is stationary and 

 offers only a side shot, careful allowance must be 

 made, or the points will pass above their object. I 

 have seen a big pike run a gantlet of four spears, 

 guarding a stretch of water perhaps ten yards wide 

 and two feet deep. One weapon after another 

 struck, " chug chug chug chug," while a fly- 

 ing furrow on the surface told of a swift shape speed- 

 ing unharmed below it. In this case, though we 

 were all experienced, we miscalculated the depth of 

 water and overshot the best fish seen that day. 

 *##### 



A friend, son of one of the " river farmers," as we 

 styled the owners of fat bottom-lands, had asked me 

 to join him for a day's slopping round. I was to 

 reach the farmhouse about evening, and we were to 

 turn out at sunrise next morning, and try a long 

 creek which drained an extensive tract of woodland. 

 The mouth of this creek was near my friend's home, 

 so I concluded to travel along the river bank till I 

 reached the smaller stream, and to have a look at 

 the water for myself. As the river was very high, 

 and the going muddy, I wore long rubber waders, 

 for I could not change clothes until I returned. 



When I started on my four-mile tramp the after- 

 noon was warm and bright, and I poked along, not 

 caring to reach the house before supper-time. Wad- 

 ing through shallow overflows kept my rubbers cool 



