ANGLING. 33 



in May, with his overcoat buttoned up to his chin, his jolly 

 spouse in the stern, and his servant amidship, baiting the 

 hooks and taking off the lady's fish. The son also was an 

 adept as well as the sire. Woe to the perch fisher, with his 

 bait of little silvery eels, if these occupied the lower part of 

 the swim, for the fish were all arrested by the stray ova that 

 floated off from the " gobs" of shad- roe. 



As we love contrasts, let us here make a slight allusion to 

 that sensible ''old English gentleman," the Admiral, who 

 surveyed the north-west coast of America, to see, if in the 

 contingency of the Yankees adhering to their claim of '' fifty - 

 four forty," the country about Vancouver's Island was worth 

 contending for. He was an ardent angler, and it is reported, 

 that on leaving his ship he provided stores for a week, which 

 comprised of course not a few drinkables, as well as salmon 

 rods and other tackle, and started in his boats to explore the 

 rivers and tributaries, which, so goes the story, were so 

 crammed in many places with salmon, that they could be 

 captured with a boat-hook ; and still with all the variety of 

 salmon flies and the piscatory skill of the admiral and his 

 officers, not a fish could be induced to rise at the fly. He 

 returned to his ship disheartened and disgusted, averring 

 that the country was not worth contending for; that the 

 Yankees might have it and be ; but it would be inde- 

 corous to record the admiral's mild expletive. 



The True Angler is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of 

 gentle old Izaak. He has no affectation, and when a fly-cast 

 is not to be had, can find amusement in catching Sunfish or 

 Roach, and does not despise the sport of any humbler brother 

 of the angle. With him, fishing is a recreation, and a 

 " calmer of unquiet thoughts." He never quarrels with his 

 luck, knowing that satiety dulls one's appreciation of sport 

 as much as want of success, but is ever content when he has 

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