Tbe Fishes of our Bqybood 99 



trout and for nothing else. Not seldom the trout 

 is the only available fish; hence the youth of that 

 region, while apt to learn a lot about trout, remain 

 in ignorance of a dozen other species of most inter- 

 esting fish. 



In our country things were different. In order 

 to be a successful angler and so command the 

 respect of one's associates, one had to know more 

 or less about a dozen species of fish, as many sorts 

 of baits, and also the methods by which the fish 

 and the baits might best be brought into close con- 

 nections. The old boys knew about these things, 

 and many other things not to be found in books. 

 They could tell you when, where, and why to try at 

 a certain spot for some particular fish, and what 

 bait to use. Then if you did not take the fish, 

 they'd borrow your tackle and speedily prove the 

 correctness of their knowledge. 



Those were glorious old days ! From sunrise to 

 sunset, care-free ; then nights of dreamless sleep. 

 We were forever busy, on, in, or about the water. 

 To rise, feed, and flee to the river ; back, feed, off to 

 the river, was the daily programme. We knew every 

 foot of bank and shallow, and, for that matter, most 

 of the depths. Where the turtles buried their eggs, 

 when the muskallonge might be expected, when the 

 pickerel followed the overflows in fact the waters 

 had no secrets. When a new boy came, as he 

 sometimes did, with tales of the trout fishing of 

 distant parts, we listened in mock humility. Then 

 some one of us licked him, and if he took that with 

 becoming knightly fortitude, we later took him fish- 

 ing and so to our gentle hearts. If he chanced to 



