Evening star., 1926-10-31

l miscalculated the strength Of the
bank and fell in.
Now, any fisherman will know that
he only way to catch trout is to sur
prise them. To startle no birds. To
frighten no butterflies. To stalk the
stream like an Indian stalking his
prey.
Crawling, creeping. hiding. the true
fisherman at last takes up his stand
behind rock, and there, unseen and
unsuspected, drops his brilliant-col
ored fly on the surface in such a
manner that the fish below will think
he fly is committing suicide.
But / have my own method. First
of all, l select comfortable rock to
sit on, overlooking the pool. Then
select my fly and fasten 1t to the line
by a method which has been known to
turn fishermen pale in the face Then,
having unwound considerable line and
having got it tangled in my shoe
hooks, | am ready to cast
| then hopefully snap my pole. and
watch for the suicidal fly to rest light
ly on the surface of the pool. But it
does not. Brief examination finds it
IN one of two places-either in the
brush behind me or between my shoul-
derS in the garment I am wearing. l
have, incidentally. been known to
eaten the lobe of an ear.
Repeated attempts, however, at last
bring the fly to rest on the surface Of
the water. Now and then, something
takes 1t. Mostly. it does not 1 have
habit. after it has fioated undis.
turbed for some time, Of letting it run
with the rapid current to some prom
ising pool below.
After that l sit and wait, fighting
mosquitoes the while, and at last reel
IN. L cannot reel in. Investigation re-
veals my fly caught under rock in an
inch and half of water.
On this particular afternoon, I
went through with my usual pro.
gram. with the addition of almost sit
tlng on snake. And I caught moth
ing. Below me, great trout leaned in
the air for miserable little gnats of no
gastronomic value whatever. while
my brilliant flies. my imitation grass.
hopper, and my fat worms floated dis
da1ned. Trout before my very ewes
left their undertook homes, went out
and visited, had some small refresh
ment, and went home again.
At last | had a strike. I gasped
Jerked, and reeled in l had him. He
was beautiful. He was sDotted and
beautiful. He lay on the rock and
painted. Then he gave flop and fell
back into the water again.
On the way home / met ranch en-
ploye with six fish strung on a stick.
L admired them. and he gave them to
me. Later. when asked what bait l
used, [ merely said I had smiled at
them.
But we were to get fish. Came one
day man with statement that
there was a lake. called Dome Lake.
some 5000 feet in elevation and some
distance away, and that thereon or
near by was a fishing club, which ex-
tended it's piscatorial privileges to four
of us.
According to the statement, the lake
was overflowing with fish, so that
there was hardly room for water in
it, and the fish took turns at the sur
face to look for food. Also there
would be food and beds. and pleasant
club members to show on boards the
outlines Of such trout as are the rea-
son why a man keeps on fishing
through a long lifetime.
when YOU say some distance
what do you mean" I asked warily
"Oh, 40 or so miles"
"On horseback"
surely.
Mountain miles or regular miles,"
I persisted.
Regular mountain miles
And we climb 5000 feet, and do
it all in one day."
Now see here" said the person
who had brought the invitation, this
is a, real lake and real fish. If you're
going to back out because it's hard
to get To-
II don't think my horse can stand
it," | said feebly.
But l went. in the end.
At in the morning, we rose from
our beds and dressed--like Steven
sons lines:
In Winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
Then. while the Head carried the
fishing tackle. I wrapped up in my
slicker the following articles:
One robe de mutt.
One toothbrush. ct Cetera,
One can SardineS,
One box crackers,
One small cheese.
One jar cold cream,
One bottle pickles,