A Matter of Mascalonge 149 



play the decoy between his feet and coax the fish 

 six inches farther. Right where his neck, if he had 

 one, would be, is the spot, and one must not be 

 afraid of hitting him too hard. I've heard of 

 course it's mere hearsay and perhaps untrue there's 

 a way of putting a bit too much strength to it, miss- 

 ing the fish, and following head-first after the spear. 

 I cannot recommend this. There's a lack of venti- 

 lation and a prevalence of cold and damp down 

 under there which are undesirable, if not positively 

 dangerous. Getting wet up to his ankles may be a 

 trifling matter to a robust man, but I suspect a good 

 deal depends upon which end of him he measures 

 from. A man may wet two of his soles with im- 

 punity, but the third never requires water unless 

 but maybe that's getting too far ahead. 



In trolling for 'lunge the old-fashioned handline 

 and spoon-hook may be depended upon, but the 

 method lacks the science which the use of a trolling 

 rod demands. I have done a lot of it, and I prefer 

 to go alone and do my own paddling, or rowing. 

 A turn of the line around the thigh enables you to 

 feel all attacks on the lure, while leaving both hands 

 free for the paddle, or oars ; and at the same time 

 the line is where you can find it without loss of 

 time. This is important, for the resistance of a 

 heavy fish, aided by the forward motion of the craft, 

 will tauten a line to the danger-point before you 

 have time for many motions of your hand. While 

 paddling, I make fast the paddle by a short cord, so 

 it can safely be dropped at any point of the stroke. 

 When once fast to a good fish I seldom bother 

 about the paddle for turning, as there is a way of 



