Tragic Fishing Moments 



few minutes, but I was too much interested in the 

 game and too busy casting to pay much attention to it. 



At four I pulled up to the landing place. Doc and 

 Hugh were already there eagerly waiting to see what 

 I had. Six or seven good bass were using my leaky 

 old boat as an aquarium. I felt I had won, and so I 

 gave my boat a long, strong heave up onto the shore so 

 that the fish would be in plain view. As the boat nosed 

 up on the bank the water made a race for my hunting 

 coat, which I had rolled up and placed under the rear 

 seat of the boat. I dropped the oars and tried to beat 

 the water to that coat. The old tub turned on its side, 

 and I went into twenty feet of clear cold water. 



You have heard people tell about their sensations 

 and thoughts when they fell in. Some tell us that all 

 the mean things they have ever done pass by in about 

 one minute. Now I want to tell you that I did not 

 think about any of these things ; I did not even think 

 about my Heddon and my Reddifor, nor about my 

 fine case filled with casting lures. The only thing I 

 thought about was those six or seven unkilled and un- 

 strung bass, which had been swimming around in that 

 boat about a minute previous. Would they be there 

 when I got back into that boat? or would they all 

 escape when I climbed into the boat? The first thing 

 I looked for was my fish, and " Oh, boy, it was a grand 

 and glorious feeling." They were still there. 



Now the editor knows the reputation we fishermen 

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