LANDING TOOLS; HOW TO USE THEM 163 



the log!" I groaned. The bass began to struggle 

 and I moaned, "He'll tear loose and leave me solid !" 

 But no, the fish somehow got that multi-hooked lure 

 back through under the long, up amid the out-reach- 

 ing branches, following the same road along which 

 he entered, and was out in the lake in open water 

 once again. I put on the reverse immediately, churn- 

 ing water like a Mississippi River stern-wheeler, 

 backed away from the menacing top and played and 

 netted my fish. What was your question, Jim? 

 "Did I e'ver tell of losing a fish?" Ah, those stories 

 are not worth telling. 



In playing a fish, play him. I mean simply, keep 

 him moving. One authority advises guiding him in 

 figure eight movements. I am not so particular, 

 sounds too much like elocutionary drill in gesturing. 

 Just keep him circling around, or moving out and 

 back, anything is better than allowing him to regain 

 strength. The recuperative power of a black bass 

 is simply passing belief. Sometimes, at sight of the 

 net, he finds sufficient strength for one last flop, the 

 flop that for him spells liberty. (Never count your 

 fish until they are in the creel!) I know of nothing 

 more pathetic, and withal regal, than a black bass 

 defeated but not vanquished, waiting for the net. 

 Royally he fights and royally he surrenders, dorsal 

 fin erect in defiance. The black bass never strikes 

 his flag even when conquered. Remains, the landing 

 tools and how to use them. 



