Tragic Fishing Moments 



fish, we who are older in the game insist that when 

 the fish is in the boat or in the creel the fun is all 

 over but is it ? Pleasure may be without the element 

 of fun, but fun can never be without an element of 

 pleasure. We enjoy the merriment and hilarity which 

 constitute the heart of fun, and equally as well do we 

 appreciate the agreeable sensation and mental gratifi- 

 cation which we find in our pleasures. 



We are thrilled by the strike of a game fish and are 

 delighted with his leaps, runs and the many other 

 stunts which he pulls off in his frenzied fight for free- 

 dom. But when these are over and he lies before us, 

 a thing of beauty, we anticipate a pleasure unspeak- 

 able and full of pride, perhaps of egotism, as we 

 think of the wonder, the admiration, possibly the jeal- 

 ousy, of friends at the hotel when we return in 

 triumph with our cherished trophy to tell of the fight 

 and of the victory won. 



This anticipation, the fun of the strike, and the 

 fight having been successfully ended, filled me with 

 pride, and, I fear, egotism, as I gazed on three lovely 

 rainbows hanging on a stringer tied to my boat. They 

 weighed, respectively, four, five and a half, and six 

 pounds ; and I knew certain anglers at the hotel would 

 be green with envy as they gazed upon their iridescent 

 sides and contemplated their lines of grace and beauty, 

 and wondered at their size. 



Mrs. Long was with me. Never having handled a 

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