122 WOODLAND IDYLS. 



For the third afternoon in succession I went 

 up the creek a-fishing. Not much success did 

 I have until I reached an old partially sub- 

 merged stump in a pool which had apparently 

 not been fished by anyone but myself this sea- 

 son. Here at the first cast I partly hooked a 

 large goggle-eye, bringing him so close to the 

 surface that his silvery spots glistened in the 

 sunshine. This so encouraged me that for a full 

 half hour I tried to get him or one of his mates 

 but without results until finally I lowered the 

 bait close to the stump in a new place which I 

 had tried unsuccessfully both days before. In- 

 stantly there was a tug and the cork went to 

 the bottom. A jerk at my end of the combina- 

 tion brought out the largest and most handsome 

 long-eared sunny I had seen this season. Try- 

 ing both of the neglected sides of the old stump 

 there was in fifteen minutes added to the string 

 eleven sunfish, goggle-eyes and log perch. The 

 perch here lived out in swift water fifteen feet 

 or more from the stump. They would dart in, 

 grab the hook and run with it out toward their 

 abiding place. So quick were they that one had 

 to jerk at the right instant; that is, just as the 

 cork started downward, else they let go and 

 were missed. Long and slender, they looked like 

 young gar-pikes as they were jerked high in air. 



The silver-fins or satin-sided minnows 44 are 



44 Notropis wtiiwlei Girard 



