TROUT FISHING. 257 



admirable work, while I feel that it would be useless and absurd to re- 

 word the same ideas and opinions, and so render it pseudo-original, I 

 do not hesitate to extract it entire : 



" The principal distinctions that strike the careful observer between 

 the Trout of Long Island, or, indeed, I might say North America in 

 general, and those of the British isles, is, first, the great uniformity of 

 size on the part of the former, which rarely exceed two or three 

 pounds in weight, and never ^ so far as I have been able to ascertain, 

 five or six — and, secondly, the fact that in the United States, Trout 

 are never taken in the large rivers, or, if ever, so rarely as to prove 

 the rule by the wonder arising from the exception. 



" On Long Island, there are some half-dozen instances on record, 

 within three times as many years, of fish, varying in weight from four 

 to six pounds, taken with the rod and line. Two of these instances 

 occur to me, as connected with circumstances which may render the 

 relation acceptable, as of anecdotes very unusual, and almost, but that 

 they are proved beyond the possibility of doubt, incredible. 



" Both these instances occurred at Stump-pond, on the north side ; 

 one in the pond itself, the other in the mill-pool, at the outlet. 



" A gentleman from New York, thus runs the first story, who had 

 never thrown a line, or taken a Trout in his life, and who had come 

 out, lately equipped with a complete outfit of Conroy's best and 

 strongest tackle, all spick-and-span new, and point device, on throwing 

 his hook, baited with a common lob-worm, into the water, was greeted 

 with an immediate bite, and bob of the float, which incontinently dis- 

 appeared beneath the surface, carried away by the hard pull of a 

 heavy fish. The novice, ignorant of all the soft and shrewd seduc- 

 tions of the angler's art, hauled in his prize, main force, and actually, 

 without the aid of gaiF or landing-net, brought to basket a five- 

 pounder ! 



" The fact is remarkable ; the example decidedly unworthy of imi- 

 tation ! 



" The other instance to which I have referred, is, in all respects, 

 except the size of the fish, the very opposite of the former ; as, in it, 

 the success of the fortunate fisherman is due as much to superior 

 science in his craft, as his, in the former, is attributable to blind and 

 unmerited good luck. 



