46 THE FINE ART OF FISHING 



in Massachusetts. Its average width is not over five 

 feet and the stream bed is black mud. Mostly it flows 

 through an alder swamp, with here and there a very 

 little open fishing in old slashings. Anglers who have 

 "sand" enough to fish this brook through the swamp 

 football is child's play in comparison show baskets of 

 trout that would drive the average angler crazy. 

 Many times the creels show from a dozen to twenty 

 trout, not a single one less than a pound, and running 

 from that up to two pounds and a half. This is not 

 a fish story alleged but one experienced. 



In view of this it is a good plan to find out from 

 local anglers whether the stream you are to fish has a 

 reputation for an occasional large trout and outfit ac- 

 cordingly. It is rather disconcerting, to say the least, 

 when you are sure that a quarter of a pound is the 

 limit for the stream, to have a pound fish roll up to 

 your flies and a rattled fisherman means a lost fish. 



Fishing the Pools and Still-waters 



Although fly-casting consists for the most part of 



fast-water fishing, yet in nearly every stream there are 



many deep, still pools and often long 



The Brook reacn es of still-water wherein are resident 



12?* l the the ver y lar s est trout of the rlver - Aris - 



Still-waters. .? 7 . . '. , , . 



tocratic seclusion is theirs, and their 



rule is absolute. Quietly the activities of the pool go 

 on about them. At times a muskrat or mink stems 

 silently the still surface of the waters. Nervous king- 

 fishers perch momentarily on overhanging branches 

 and then, rattling, seek other vantage points. Insect 



