THE BIGGEST ONE GOT AWAY. 



W. L. 



Old Sport taught us all we knew about 

 fishing and for a while we were content to 

 take advice and learn what we could. There 

 came a time, however, as there always comes 

 to boys, when we thought we knew at least 

 as much as our teacher. His primitive 

 tackle was too heavy and clumsy, we could 

 handle a canoe as well as he, all his fishing 

 grounds we knew. 



I was the first to burst my hat band, 

 when I bought a Bristol steel rod and out- 

 fit. Old Sport shook his head but said 

 nothing. The kid's hat became so small 

 that he went without one and soon he had 

 a rod to match mine. 



The season of 1903 opened and Old Sport 

 determined to show us that we knew noth- 

 ing about fishing as yet and that our tackle 

 was no good. To prove this he brought 

 home, one day, a bass weighing 3 pounds 

 10 ounces and impressed on us the value 

 of knowing how to fish. The next week, 

 however, I landed one that weighed 4}i 

 pounds. That record held until the last of 

 the season. 



It was our last fishing trip before going 

 to our respective colleges. We had invited 

 Carl to go with us. Things were to be ex- 

 citing. No doubt of that. Old Sport and 

 Kid were in one canoe while Carl and I 

 were in the other. Carl was no angler but 

 an expert in handling a canoe. In the 

 other canoe they had the grim determina- 

 tion to break my record while I was just 

 as determined to keep ahead, and I knew 

 Carl would do his best to help me. 



The day was beautiful and the water 

 had an enticing look, with its gentle ripple. 

 I was soon casting a grey backed frog with 

 my utmost skill. Fifty yards to the East 

 of us was the other canoe, slowly gliding 

 over good fishing grounds and a glance 

 told me they were doing their best. 



Old Sport had bought a steel rod for the 

 occasion and I smiled to see him cast. He 

 was not used to the spring of such a rod. 

 We worked carefully around every snag. 

 Frogs were sporting among every bunch 

 of lily pads and across every deep hole in 

 an earnest endeavor to get a rise. 



Suddenly I heard a shout from the other 

 canoe and beheld Old Sport, paddle in 

 hand, ready for action, while Kid, every 

 faculty on the alert, was playing a big fel- 

 low. How the pole bent and the line 

 swished ! I found myself holding my 

 breath. Would he land him? Such mad 

 rushes ! Yes, up he comes, tired out, his 

 great mouth wide open, and is safely taken 

 aboard ! 



I felt my hopes sink for the bass was 

 larger than my fish that had so long held 



the record. My courage was speedily re- 

 vived, however, by Carl's exclamation as he 

 got fast to one. It proved to be a small 

 mouth of about 2 pounds weight and gave 

 Carl all the excitement he wanted. 



Pifteen minutes later, as we were round- 

 ing a point, I made a long cast to reack the 

 other side of a deep hole. My frog had 

 scarcely touched the water when there was 

 a tremendous splash. How fast I had to 

 work to give that fish the line he wanted ! 

 Suddenly he stopped and when he started 

 again I fixed the hook and the fun began. 

 Straight away for 30 yards, fhen back 

 he came, just as fast. I could not take up 

 line fast enough and probably would have 

 lost him if Carl had not paddled back- 

 ward as hard as he could, thus keeping the 

 line taut. Finding that his tactics would 

 not work, the fish started off again and how 

 the reel did sing! Backward and forward 

 and sidewise he rushed, my reel singing and 

 my rod bending like a whip. At last I 

 could see that he was tiring. Then he 

 came near the top ; then down he went to 

 the very bottom, just showing us his broad 

 tail as he turned ! When he came up again 

 we got him in. He looked as large as the 

 one in the other canoe. 



Half an hour later I got another large 

 bass from the same hole. 



The sun was g:oing down over the hills 

 West of the lake, the water was smooth 

 save for a slight ripple now and then. We 

 were elated over our good catch and being 

 about ready to go home were somewhat re- 

 laxed. I made a long cast, just to be doing 

 something, into the wake of one of those 

 little ripples that dimpled the lake. A huge 

 bass suddenly jumped clear of the water 

 and literally fell on the frog. Away went 

 10 yards of line at a jump! Something 

 happened. Hardly knew what. I suddenly 

 felt myself going swiftly backward, there 

 was a pause for an instant and then the 

 cool water closed over me. I gripped my 

 rod tightly and when my head was clear of 

 the water I became aware that something 

 was tugging like fury on my line. At first 

 it seemed _ as if he would pull me under, but 

 after a vicious tug the line slackened and 

 the fight was all over. 



Then I thought about the fish in the 

 canoe. We had put them in the bow, so 

 they had not fallen out, as the end was 

 covered. We easily swam ashore and were 

 met by the other canoe. They also had 3 

 fish. The scales proved the weight of fish 

 caught by the other canoe to be 5 1 / 2 , \y 2 and 

 i}i pounds respectively, while ours were 5 

 pounds, 4 pounds and 2 pounds 3 ounces. 

 My record was beaten but I was happy. 



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