The Angler and the Scoffer 59 



fish, and our neighboring hand-liners and 

 big-pole gentry roared with delight at the 

 methods and outfit of our boat, though 

 we did as well in the number of fish 

 taken as any couple in the bay. Ever 

 after this first day, the practical angler 

 outfished every man at Goose Creek. 

 He studied his game, correctly rigged his 

 tackle, and fished scientifically, with the 

 result I speak of. 



Our coarse-method friends used coarse 

 "tackle," fished coarsely, and they 

 proved easy victims. Many the major- 

 ity used railroad spikes for sinkers; 

 others, pickle-bottle corks for floats; and 

 all of them had carpenters' chalk twines 

 for lines. Of course they caught fish, but 

 the smart rodman caught ten to their one 

 all season, and he could have caught 

 twenty to their one had he been so in- 

 clined. These men had their share of 

 strikes, and they fished in my friend's 

 very tide swirl, but they failed when it 

 came to hooking and boating the quarry. 



