332 Book of the Black Bass. 



opposed to "big catches," on principle; for I hold that 

 when the sole object in angling is to catch fish as long as 

 they will " bite/' the proceeding leaves the province of 

 sport, and degenerates into pot-fishing, or, what is worse, 

 useless and unjustifiable slaughter; much in the same way 

 that, when an unprincipled merchant, during the civil war, 

 took unfair advantage of certain circumstances, and sold 

 goods at an advance of five hundred per cent., and who, 

 when afterward boasting of the fine per centage of profit 

 realized, was told by a plain-spoken old gentleman that 

 the transaction passed the limits of per centage and entered 

 the bounds of petit larceny. 



But as an honest confession is good for the soul, I will 

 relate the incident referred to : I was fishing in Okauchee 

 Lake, Wisconsin, in company with two friends from Cin- 

 cinnati, on a really perfect day in July. We had, unfor- 

 timately, a bountiful supply of fine minnows for bait, and 

 after we had taken more than enough fish, I proposed to 

 stop; but my friends, to whom the experience was new, 

 could not be induced to relinquish the exciting sport, so I 

 continued fishing, under' protest, and we took during the 

 day one hundred and fifty-three bass, and, with shame do 

 I confess it, more than one-half — I am afraid to say just 

 how many more — fell to my rod. 



In justice, however, but not as a redeeming feature, I 

 will state that the fish were not wasted, for a hundred fine 

 bass were packed in ice and expressed to friends in Cin- 

 cinnati, and the balance were distributed among the hotels 

 of Oconomowoc. 



I alwaj's look back upon this circumstance with regret, 

 though I have done penance for the transaction, many a 

 time and oft, since, by stopping at a dozen bass, when I 

 might have taken twice the number. 



