THE FASCINATION 199 



says his first cast. It matters not where he 

 angles, on large or small streams, always the en- 

 ticement of monsters untaken lures him on. Per- 

 haps this week: perhaps to-day: perhaps at this 

 cast: ah, who knows? 



Just when that mythical big one, the fish that 

 has haunted our dreams and dogged our waking 

 thoughts, will "take hold," we know not; we only 

 know that he will. And he does. That is the 

 wonder of it all. The big fish do upon occasion 

 rise, are hooked and landed the funny papers to 

 the contrary notwithstanding. What devotee of 

 the gentle art has not had the unalloyed pleasure 

 of creeling "the season's largest fish" from some 

 given water? The big fish, like death, is always 

 unexpected though always looked for. Nat- 

 urally the largest fish escape; that must be so in 

 the very nature of the case. A five-pound trout 

 on a number 10 fly, and then 



I could spin yarns of big fish on light tackle, 

 big fish that escaped simply because my eager- 

 ness overmastered my patience; but to tell those 

 stories would be to invite scorn and hilarity I 

 have not the courage. Now and then Fate 

 smiles: once in five years or so. I lift my eyes 

 from my writing. Above my desk hangs a 

 birch-bark replica of a true fontinalis taken last 



