Fishing ill. North Carolina. 35 



pond, with a dam in good order, that interferes 

 with the water in its course to the sea ; and game 

 bine bream up to a pound in weight are plenti- 

 ful, in June, at the mill tail, only a few getting 

 up into the pond. This is the fishiest stream 

 in middle !N^orth Carolina. 



I had trouble with a seven-pound bass in this 

 pond several years ago. I struck him in the 

 midst of a bunch of logs about twenty feet from 

 the bank, where the water was seven feet deep. 

 It was an ideal place ; the logs two or more 

 feet under water, and the fish — that fish — al- 

 ways there and customarily hungry, so that I 

 had no difficulty in enticing him to take a 

 medium sized minnow. 



My heart was glad. I had no animosity 

 against game fish. I would rather one would 

 whip me, than eat him. I buy — do not sell — I 

 fish for sport. This time I got my fish hard 

 hooked, but could not clear the logs and he soon 

 succeeded in wrapping himself around a pro- 

 jecting branch deep in water, and got so fast 

 to it that I could not budge him nor would he 

 take up the slack line. In a little while he be- 



