20 THE FINE ART OF FISHING 



Always line your creel with wet moss or ferns to 

 keep the trout fresh and looking as if newly caught. 



Always kill your fish immediately after taking him 

 off the hook, and when you are wading the rapids it is 

 a wise plan to kill him before you take him off. Me- 

 dium-sized trout may be killed easily by inserting the 

 forefinger or thumb in the mouth and bending the head 

 sharply backward. 



That the brook trout is most eccentric in its habits is 



generally conceded. Whether it is more finicky than 



the black bass is a question, for this fish, 



Brook Trout a i so> - 1S f amou s for its uncertainties. The 



Eccentrici- man who knows all about trout docs 



ties. , , _ 



not exist, although you have probably met 



him. Long experience in trout fishing, both with fly 

 and bait, is conducive to a deeply rooted belief that the 

 brook trout will most certainly not "stay put." When 

 you think you have pinned him down as to some phase 

 of character or habit, your next fishing trip is quite apt 

 to result in a complete reversal of opinion as to that 

 same characteristic. 



Experts agree to disagree, and arguments concerning 

 fontinalis are unending and profitable only in that 

 they serve to sustain angling interest. Not only is there 

 confusion as to these matters of character and habit, 

 but the scientists meet with more difficulty in dealing 

 with the Salmonidae than with any other group of 

 game fishes. With elusive ease and supreme indiffer- 

 ence the trout refuse to be classified and ichthyologically 

 tagged. As to this, however, the fisherman need not 



