Question

the catching of unshelled fish
(one simon (mythic game))
1 unshell fish are, comparatively, slow of movement, without guile, pitifully trusting, and very easily caught. observe the difference between the churk of methods and the last of using with which one goes crabbing, and the complicated hooks, rods, lines, and reels devoted to the capture of unshelled fish.
2 an unshelled fish is lively and elusive past the power of words to portray, and in this, undoubtedly, lies its desirability. people will travel for two nights and a day to some spot where all unshelled fish has once been seen, taking $25.00 worth of fishing tackle, hunked down $50.00 for day and night in a camp, hire a guide at more cost than the fish he is likely to catch, and work with dogged patience from gray dawn till dark. and for what? for one small bass which could have been bought at any trustworthy market for sixty-five cents, or, possibly, some poor little kitten-fish-offspring of a catfish —whose mothers milk is not yet dry upon its lips.
3 other fish who have just been weaned and are beginning to notice solid food will repeatedly take a hook too large to swallow, and be dragged into the boat, literally, by the skin of the teeth. note the cheerful little sunfish, four inches long, which is caught first on one side of the boat and then on the other by the patient fisherman angling off a rocky, weedy point for bass.
4 but, as grover cleveland said, no is no true fisherman who is willing to fish only when fish are biting. the real angler will sit all day in a boat in a pouring rain, eagerly watching the point of the rod, which never for an instant swerves a half inch from the horizontal. the real angler will troll for miles, with a hand line and a spinner, winding in the thirty-five dripping feet of the lure every ten minutes, to remove a weed, or to see if shes still a-spinnin. vainly he hopes for the muskellunge who has just gone somewhere else, but, by the same token, the sure-enough angler is ready to go out next morning, rain or shine, at sunrise.
5 it is a habit of unshelled fish to be in other places, or, possibly, at your place, but at another time. the guide can never understand what is wrong. five days ago, he himself caught more bass than he could carry home, at that identical rocky point. a man from la porte, indiana, whom he took out the week before, landed a thirty-eight pound muskie in trolling through that same narrow channel. in the forty years that the guide has lived in the place, man and boy, he has never known the fishing to be as poor as it is now. why, even ol pop somers has ceased to fish!
6 but the real angler continues, regardless of the local sage. he has heard the fish were on the feed. he has baited his hook with a new and very superior fly, and after a hard-fought hour, he feels a slight tug on the line. he has hooked a fish! but, alas, it is only a small sunfish, which he throws back. he casts again, and this time he hooks a large, ugly, and very lively fish, which is not a bass. he throws it back. he casts again, and this time he hooks a fish which is a bass, but it is too small. he throws it back. he casts again, and this time he hooks a fish which is a large, beautiful, and very lively bass. he plays it for a while, and then he lands it. he is very happy. he has caught a fish!
7 and, fish or no fish, there are compensations. into a day of heart-breaking and soul-sickening toil, when all the world goes wrong, must sometimes come the vision of a wooded shore, with tiny dark wavelets singing softly on the rocks and a rickety old pier jutting out into the water. the real angler will sit on the pier, watching the water, and waiting for a fish to bite. he will think about the fish he has caught, and the fish he has lost. he will think about the friends he has made, and the friends he has lost. he will think about the good times he has had, and the bad times he has had. and, in the end, he will be content.
8 it may be cold up north, but down in the gulf they are fishing —scudding among the florida keys in a little white sailboat, landing for lunch on a strand as snowy as the northern streets, where the shimmering distances of white sand are paved with shell and pearl, and the tide thrums out its old song under the palms. last week? two hundred and fifty pounds of fish in the morning, and a little sailboat cruising among the florida keys.
9 yes, when all is said and done, the catching of fish is a matter of luck —a gamblers chance, if you will have it so.

which sentence best supports the idea that true fishermen are dedicated to the sport?
a it is a habit of unshelled fish to be in other places, or, possibly, at your place, but at another time.
b an unshelled fish is lively and elusive past the power of words to portray, and in this, undoubtedly, lies its desirability.
c the real angler will sit all day in a boat in a pouring rain, eagerly watching the point of the rod, which never for an instant swerves a half inch from the horizontal.
d other fish who have just been weaned and are beginning to notice solid food will repeatedly take a hook too large to swallow, and be dragged into the boat, literally, by the skin of the teeth.

Explanation:

To determine which sentence best supports the idea that true fishermen are dedicated to the sport, we analyze each option:

• Option A: Describes the habit of Unshelled Fish, not fishermen's dedication. Eliminate.
• Option B: Talks about the desirability of Unshelled Fish, not fishermen's dedication. Eliminate.
• Option C: Describes a real angler sitting all day in a boat in pouring rain, intently watching the rod tip. This shows dedication as the angler persists in unfavorable conditions, focusing on fishing.
• Option D: Describes other fish taking a hook, not true fishermen's dedication. Eliminate.

Answer:

C. The real angler will sit all day in a boat in a pouring rain, intently watching the point of the rod, which never for an instant ceases a half inch from the horizontal.