XVI 
BLANKS AND TROUBLES 
FTER reading such persuasive words as 
A those which are quoted from “Red 
Spinner’s” “ Waterside Sketches,” none 
of us should complain overmuch even if 
we have caught no fish to-day. ‘Red Spinner” 
says all that can be said concerning a day in the 
country when the tally of fish caught stands at 
nil, but when the surroundings have been 
beautiful and the spirit has been refreshed and 
strengthened. But there are blanks and blanks. 
Those discussed in the following pages are mostly 
of the second kind ! 
I think that one of the worst blank days is 
one not caused by your fishing merits or de- 
merits, but by such a malign chance as causes you, 
when you have gone miles to fish and are safely 
arrived, to find that you have left your reel behind 
you. It adds to the blankness if the car which 
brought you has departed and is already out of 
sight before you discover the fatal fact. One 
worthy angler at a Devonshire hotel had a tre- 
mendous tramp back to get his forgotten reel and 
it took a large piece out of the day’s fishing. 
