16 THe Determined Angler 



1 'Pull it in! you'll lose it!" "We could catch a 

 hundred if you wouldn't fool!" "The other boats'll 

 beat us badly!" "There's a million right 'round the 

 boat!" 



These are a few of his excitable expressions. But, 

 when I say to him, "What's the difference, Captain, 

 in losing one or two fish here and wasting half a 

 hundred on shore?" he calms down for a minute or 

 two. Only for a minute or two, however, for he's in 

 the game solely for fish, not the fishing. It's all 

 numbers and size with him, and he's encouraged in 

 this greed by nine out of every ten men he takes 

 aboard his boat. 



"We caught fifty," says Tom. 



"We caught a hundred and ten, " says Dick. 



"We caught two hundred and sixty, " says Harry. 

 "And so the bayman brags, too, because it's purely 

 business with him. 



I have always found the greatest pleasure in fishing 

 is the fishing and not the blood and bones associated 

 with the pursuit. I would rather take five fair fish on 

 fine tackle correctly manipulated than fill the hold 

 with a hundred horrid monsters mastered by mere 

 strength, as in hand-line trolling for bluefish in the 

 ocean and for muskellonge, etc., in fresh water. 



"But," says Captain Getemanyway, "I can catch 

 more fish with a hand-line than you can with your 

 fine rod and reel." 



" Of course you can, " I reply, "and you could catch 

 more if you used a net, a stick of dynamite, or a shot- 

 gun." 



If it's the fish alone that is the object of the Angler's 

 eye, why resort to any sort of tackle when there's a 

 fish stall in every bailiwick? 



