66 SMALL FISH 



line first not too much, or you will be unable to bring 

 your rod backward over your shoulder. Now bring 

 your rod and arm vertically backward over your 

 shoulder and draw the fish toward the net ; lift your 

 net and you have him. Well done again ! but, you see, 

 as he is only just over the limit, and as it is always 

 better to err on the right than on the wrong side, I 

 think we will put him back, and he will have a chance 

 to grow into a bigger fish. 



Just here let me impress upon you that you should 

 have due consideration for the rights of the owners, 

 your fellow-fishermen, the trout, and the stream. 

 Give them all a chance. Never take undersized trout ; 

 never make a boast about big takes of trout. Never 

 be discouraged. If the fish are small, put on the finest 

 tackle. Every day on which you fish you will most 

 certainly add to your knowledge and skill. Although 

 the fish may be untakable and your luck villainous, 

 your fortune will turn. The apparently worst day 

 may before it closes produce the biggest fish. You 

 will find as your skill increases that the pleasure of 

 netting a fish you have beaten is much greater than 

 killing it and carrying it home. 



Now try that rise on the other side. Keep well 

 down and see that your fly is clean and dry before 

 casting. Why, you have risen two fish and touched 

 them both ! Allow me to look at that fly. Ah ! I 

 thought so. Now feel the point of your hook, and you 

 will find that it has become blunted, perhaps from 

 having been carelessly broken out of the last fish, 



