AND HOW I HAVE CAUGHT MY FISH 239 



bended back and short- drawn breath, approach the 

 sheltered spot from which the first, and sometimes 

 fatal, cast is to be made. These are the moments 

 that test our nerves immeasurably more than when 

 the fish is struck and we are fighting the battle 

 with tuned and stiffened frame. 



A few such half-hours as you may spend here, 

 momentarily expecting, should be sufficient to give 

 vigorous circulation on the coldest day, fish or no 

 fish. The satisfaction of having done our very 

 best, as the reputation of the pool demanded, must 

 frequently suffice if angling is to remain with us 

 a true pleasure. 



What cares the salmon fisher for failures ? His 

 mind runs not on the value of the fish and what it 

 is costing him. It is to that glorious day, to that 

 busy hour, and to that supreme twenty minutes, 

 that his thoughts recur again and again. 



Have you seen the fishers congregated in the 

 lobby of the hotel on their return at the end of the 

 day ? That is your opportunity for discovering 

 character. Give me for companion the man who, 

 by his eyes and every muscle of his face, betrays 

 the pleasure of his day spent in trying, and who, 

 though unsuccessful, sees in the successes of others 

 the pleasurable guarantee of sport for himself on 

 morrow. 



