152 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



sure seekers, and while anglers still held the un dis- 

 puted monopoly of their crystal waters, " Cole's 

 Point, 1 ' at the foot of Big Tupper, was one of my 

 favorite resorts. Cast when I would, at early morn- 

 ing, at midday or in the gloaming, I was always 

 sure of good sport. I would begin with a short 

 cast, standing well back and dropping my fly at the 

 very edge of the point around which the current, 

 in those days, flowed with a graceful undulating 

 motion over a cluster of bowlders where trout loved 

 to congregate. For a few minutes I was kept busy, 

 but the responses speedily ceased. By projecting 

 my fly a few feet farther out, like results would 

 follow ; and so on until I had swept the entire 

 length and breadth of the pool. Full half my take 

 was from long casts. Why ? Not because I had 

 taken all the fish that were within easy reach when 

 I began to cast, but because those I did not take, 

 alarmed either by the shadow of my rod or the 

 stragglings of the fish I hooked, slowly retreated, 

 not really frightened, perhaps, but disturbed, 

 halting after a dart or two, to become themselves 

 the victims of their ravenous appetite. If I had 

 not followed them as they retired, I would not now 

 have such pleasant recollections of " Cole's Point " 

 as it was twenty years ago, before the dam at Set- 

 ting Pole rapids had changed the whole surface of 

 the Raquette waters below the Raquette falls. 



