Tragic Fishing Moments 



tackle and a good boat. What more could fishermen 

 ask for? A few hours later we pulled ashore opposite 

 camp and held a council of war. Had our informant 

 been a cheerful liar? Was this a clever joke to get 

 two uninitiated fishermen stranded on a fishless lake? 

 My pal was moody. We hadn't taken a single bass, 

 and Heaven knows we had tried hard enough. He 

 chose to tramp along the shore to limber up a bit. He 

 took his rod, shoved me off, and was gone. 



It was joy just to paddle leisurely along and to 

 study the formations on the lake bottom. At ten feet 

 it was all clear as a crystal. There were great jagged 

 rocks in places, an occasional sunken log, and then 

 stretches of clear white sand and gravel. I had gone 

 probably a third of the way across when the water 

 shallowed very suddenly. Looking ahead I saw a 

 gravelly bar, its upper rush-covered point only a foot 

 below water. But ye gods and little fishes, was I 

 seeing things? I swear I hadn't touched the stuff 

 yet there they were. Just ahead where the water deep- 

 ened on the far side of that bar lay all the bass in 

 Kingdom Come. 



I stood up and looked for my pal, but he was no- 

 where in sight. I tried to estimate their numbers. 

 Why, there were hundreds of them! And, man o' 

 man, they looked a yard long. I thought of my pal. 

 He had left me voluntarily, and see what he was miss- 

 ing a scene of a lifetime! The clear, quiet water 



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