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Show LEVIATHAN h taken it when you should strike, and how hard; ta draw him sa1ely away from the weeds and roots among which he has been lying; all this takes quite a iittle practice and some skill,- a good deal more, I reckon, than hooking and playing a trout on the clear surface of the water when you can see every motion." "Ah, there you are," cried Willibert, "that's the charm of fly-fishing! It's all open and above-board. The long, light cast of the fly, 'fine and far off,' the delicate drop of the feathers upon the water, the quick rise of the trout and the sudden gleam of his golden side as he turns, the electric motion of the wrist by which you hook him,-that is the magic of sport." "Yes," replied the other, "I'll admit there's something in it, but bait-fishing is superior. You take a long pool, late in the season; water low and clear; fish lying in the middle; you can't get near them. You go to the head of the pool in the rapids and stir up the bottom so as to discolour the water a little-" "Deceptive," interrupted Willibert, "and decidedly immoral!" 294 LEVIATHAN "Only a little," continued Cotton Mather, "a very little! Then you go down to the bottom of the pool with a hand-line-" "A hand-line!" murmured the listener, halfshuddering in feigned horror. "Yes, a hand-line," the speaker went on firmly, "a long, light hand-line, without a sinker, baited with a single, clean angle-worm, and loosely coiled in your left hand. You cast the hook with your right hand, and it falls lightly without a splash, a hundred feet up stream. Then you pull the line in very gently, just fast enough to keep it from sinking to the bottom. When the trout bites, you strike him and land him by hand, without the help of rod or landing-net or any other mechanical device. Try this once, and you will see whether it is easier than throwing the fly. I reckon this was the way the Apostle Peter fished when he was told to 'go to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up.' It is the only true Apostolic method of fishing." "But, my dear fellow," answered the other, "the text doesn't say that it was a bait-hook. It m~y 295 |