60 Union Bay 



evidently ex-G.I.'s. I had seen them infrequently in the area. 

 They nodded in friendly fashion when I came nearer and 

 continued their casting, swinging their short rods with an 

 easy motion which made the reel spin. evenly and sent the 

 plug out the proper distance where it stopped and then 

 dropped within a yard of the rushes or cattails. 



I considered the fishing methods I had seen during the 

 day: the huddled search for the legal limit near the canoe- 

 house, the bullhead catch of the young mother and her chil- 

 dren, the case of the irritated bullfrogs, the scientific analysis 

 of the temperature and bass preferences, the relaxation, and 

 the easy attitude of the little group near the Arboretum. 

 How different they were from the systematic and chess-like 

 approach I was now observing, a method which had almost 

 been brought to a science on a formula like this: bass which 

 are feeding near the rushes always attack a splashing and 

 moving bait; to take bass it is only necessary to continually 

 drop a properly handled plug in the right place; percentage 

 will take care of the rest. 



Whether they realized it or not, these men followed this 

 formula. They worked with cool and tireless efficiency; they 

 spoke infrequently. I am quite sure they were unconscious 

 of the beauty of the day, the rising of the wind, the presence 

 of any other fishermen, the sailboats which now heeled to 

 the water as the wind carried them along. It was not that 

 they were incapable of enjoying such things, but they could 

 not work efficiently if they permitted such things to distract 

 them. Fishing to them was a sport and one they thoroughly 

 enjoyed, but they did it with seriousness. They certainly did 

 it well. I did not see them stop to untangle a backlash or 

 fail to place the plug exactly where they wanted it. Their 

 precision recalled that of a friend of mine who used to put a 

 pail of water on his lawn and then practice dropping a fly 

 into it. 



I felt free to ask them about their catch for they knew I 



