These big fish have a habit of showing on
the top, and I had marked where it rolled. It had been in the same
place for quite a week, and we all knew about it, and had even decided
that it was a female fish, as, indeed, it turned out to be. So we got
to speak of her as the Queen of the Pool; and it was because I had been
challenged to catch her by the score of fellows who had been trying for
her that I went out on this particular day. I took boat an hour before
I intended to fish, and dropped quietly down, bit by bit, at intervals,
to the spot I had marked in my eye. It was not far from the head of
the sluice, and, therefore, a most critical position. I had worn the
B. Pond stuck in my hat for days, so that it should be quite dry. I
only allowed myself line 2 ft. longer than my rod. After a few flicks
with my left hand I delivered a business cast with my right, and in an
instant she came up with a roll, and I struck and hooked.

"There was no need to shout. The Queen of the Pool leaped two feet out
of water and then made straight for the sluice. This was the dilemma I
had feared all along, and my plan of action had been well thought out
beforehand. I raised and held firm my rod, and let the fish and it
settle the whole business on a tight line. She often brought the top
curving right down to the water, but I never departed from my plan. I
kept the rod at an angle of about forty-five degrees throughout, and
risked all the consequences. The men from the bank, of course, shouted
'Give her line,' but I knew what my rod could do, and knew that all the
rigging was to be trusted.

"This went on for an hour and five minutes. Sometimes the fish made
for the boat, sometimes for the sluice, and the rod was never still,
but she had to give in. At last another boat came and fastened to
mine, and the guide in it after three unsuccessful shots dipped her out
in the net. I need not tell of the excitement there was when we got
ashore. The fish was there and then weighed and measured, and there
and then entered on the records. Weight 9 lb. 2 oz., length 27 1/2
in., girth 17 in. She was a most handsome fontinalis, and we counted
ninety-three vermilion spots on one of her sides."

After this story from an experienced angler, whose word is never
doubted, I was very anxious to see that small rod. The fish, as
described, was before my eyes; I handled the fly (what at least was
left of it), and can describe it. B. Pond w