Page:Fantastic Volume 08 Number 01.djvu/115

 aloud, nervously, "Dammit!"

Instantly the voice came again, "Dammit, yourself! This wasn't my idea." And my rod bent down so hard that the tip dipped into the water before I could release line.

It's a wonder he didn't break loose right then. A steelhead is a clever as well as powerful fish, and I was throughlythoroughly [sic] befuddled. An extremely silly notion persisted in my head. That steelhead had sworn at me!

I fumbled for a remark that wouldn't sound too foolish to someone hidden in the bushes. I yelled down into the pool, "Come up here, you big lunker!"

I have known fishermen to talk to their fish, but I have never heard of a fish talking back. This one did. I was listening carefully with the earphones slipped off my right ear and the left one on.

The voice came back, "Come down and get me, you great big lard!" and my line sliced a huge oval around the pool.

The voice had come out of the left earphone!

I quit looking around for people and started peering down into the pool with forgivable curiosity. There were so many ripples and bubbles I couldn't see more than a few feet deep. But he was down there, all right, keeping a dead strain on my rod as if I had ahold of the bottom.

This wasn't going to tire him out, so I pulled a trick an old timer had shown me. I dug out my jack-knife and rapped it smartly on the base of my rod. The vibrations were supposed to travel down the line and wiggle the hook in the fish's mouth making him become active. You can't wear out a quiet fish.

My left earphone said, "Ouch," and sure enough, up he came, geysering clean out of the water and staring me right in the eye. That hateful look he gave me shook me up a little, but I managed to whip up my long rod fast enough to keep a taut line on him. He hit the surface like an egg-beater, then, unaccountably, he sounded for the bottom again.

"Give it up," he said. "You can't horse me in with light gear like that. Go catch a trout somewhere!"

"Who wants to horse you in?" I said, suddenly realizing that I was actually talking to a fish. Before I could dwell on it, however, the argument was on.

"Well, if you think I'm going to cooperate, you're gonna be here a long time, bud." FISH TALK