Adventure and adventurers > Hudson Bay, or, Everyday life in the wilds of North America

162
OUR MANNER OF FISHING.
joyed the felicity of having nothing to do, Mr. Russ
and I used to saunter down to the water’s edge to have
an hour or two’s fishing. The fish we fished for were
goldeyes, and the manner of our fishing was this:—
Pausing occasionally as we walked along, one of us
might be observed to bend in a watchful manner over
the grass, and, gradually assuming the position of a
quadruped, fall plump upon his hands and knees.
Having achieved this feat, he would rise with a grass¬
hopper between his finger and thumb ; a tin box being
then held open by the other, the unlucky insect was
carefully introduced to the interior, and the lid closed
sharply—some such remark attending each capture as
that “ That one was safe,” or, “ There went another; ”
and the mystery of the whole proceeding being ex¬
plained by the fact, that these same incarcerated grass¬
hoppers were intended to form the bait with which we
trusted to beguile the unwary goldeyes to their fate.
Having arrived at the edge of the place where we
usually fished, each drew from a cleft in the rock a
stout branch of a tree, around the end of which was
wound a bit of twine with a large hook attached to it.
This we unwound quickly, and after impaling a live
grasshopper upon the barbs of our respective hooks,
dropped them into the water, and gazed intently at the
lines. Mr. Russ, who was a great lover of angling, now
began to get excited, and made several violent pulls at
the line, under the impression that something had bitten.
Suddenly his rod, stout as it was, bent with the im¬
mense muscular force applied to it, and a small goldeye,
about three or four inches long, flashed like an electric