NEVER FISH WHEN LAZY 185 



with caution he might have been tempted to carry your hook 

 with him. 



Some people think that it matters not in lake-fishing how 

 you cast, for that it is a lazy careless sort of sport, to be 

 carried out anyhow ; but remember this, friend student, if a 

 thing be worth doing at all it is worth doing well, and if a little 

 extra care will put you a brace or two of unusually fine fish 

 above the careless angler who has simply scared a brace or two 

 of big ones by bungling casting, rowing, or walking, you will own 

 that the triumph is not only deserved but worth reaping. When 

 you feel tired, careless, and bored, leave off, smoke your pipe, 

 eat your lunch, and contemplate the scenery until you see some 

 good fish move and you become keen and eager again. If you 

 do not, it is a hundred to one that you regret it, for somehow 

 it is always when you are thus lazy and careless that the big 

 ones seem to find it out, and to take advantage of you ; and 

 just as you are thinking least of fish and fishing, and have 

 mechanically cast your fly out to its full extent, when the point 

 of the rod is well down, up he comes, perhaps with a splash that 

 frightens you out of your wits. You strike hurriedly and five 

 times as hard as you ought to do, and all the harder because the 

 stroke comes from the butt instead of from the top. A heavy 

 fish and light tackle, with a hard strike tells its story ; and 

 away goes your pet fly, and you have no other of the same 

 pattern within five miles 



The waters wild close o'er the child, 

 And you are left lamenting. 



And serve you right, too. Oh, yes, put up another fly in a 

 hurry, and fish away as hard as you can, of course, for the next 

 half-hour ; he is sure to come to you again, isn't he ? And 

 then you come home and find that Jones, who isn't half as 

 good a fisherman as you are, and is only patient and pains- 

 taking, has a couple of much better fish than any you have. 

 " Ah ! if you'd only but no matter, you won't be had in that 

 way again." Perhaps not. Nous verrons. I hate a lazy 

 fisherman. 



If the weather be calm do not neglect the windward shore, 

 as in the very curl of the small wave you will often get a pull 

 from the very best fish. If there be a streak of foam, as there 

 usually is on brisk days, pitch your fly into it and you will often 

 be rewarded, as many flies get entangled in the froth and 

 cannot get out of it : the fish know this well. (I forget where 



