SHORE CASTING 201 



a procedure may produce thrills, it is true, but what 

 are you angling for any way? Just imagine hooking 

 a three pound bass thirty feet below you with no 

 means of getting down to him, success depending 

 entirely upon your ability to lead the broncho of the 

 waters to some point where the bank is lower, and 

 he can be reached with the net. 



Which leads me to pause just long enough to pay 

 tribute to the lure of the impossible. I always take 

 a chance. No matter how hazardous the place 

 appears, if it looks "fishy" to me, I cast. Under- 

 stand, however, I always take time to figure out the 

 tactics to be employed in case I hook a fish before I 

 cast, then, murmuring, "Abracadabra," I send the 

 lure hurtling into the most perilous spots. I some- 

 times lose out, but I can say without a smack of con- 

 ceit, more often I win. I attribute half my success 

 in angling to my dare-deviltry, fishing the pool the 

 other fellows pass by. You can if you will, reader, 

 fishing for ordinary fish, in ordinary water, on an 

 ordinary summer day, so contrive that your fishing 

 will produce thrills comparable to those enjoyed by 

 the tarpon enthusiast. What I say unto one, I say 

 unto all, take a chance. 



In casting along a small stream the angler will 

 depend upon the far bank for the major portion of 

 his creel. I have already told of fishing the likely 

 places, which if at his feet will be "touched up," 

 merely, waiting for a chance to cross and fish them 



