He stuck to this arrangement for a couple of months (он придерживался этой схемы пару месяцев; to stick to), and then he grew dissatisfied with it (потом он стал недоволен ей). Nobody believed him when he told them that he only doubled (никто не верил ему, когда он говорил, что только удваивает), and he, therefore, gained no credit that way whatever (и он, таким образом, совсем не приобретал доверия = ему все равно не верили; credit — доверие, вера; хорошая репутация, доброе имя), while his moderation put him at a disadvantage among the other anglers (в то время как его умеренность ставила его в невыгодное положение среди других удильщиков). When he had really caught three small fish, and said he had caught six (когда он на самом деле ловил три маленькие рыбешки, он говорил, что поймал шесть), it used to make him quite jealous to hear a man (и ему было весьма обидно слушать, как человек; jealous — ревнивый, завистливый; не выносящий лжи, измены), whom he knew for a fact had only caught one (который, как он точно знал, поймал лишь одну рыбу), going about telling people he had landed two dozen (ходил и рассказывал, что вытащил две дюжины; to go about — расхаживать, ходить туда и сюда; начинать, приступать).

awkward [':kwd] quantity ['kwntt]

But the twenty-five per cent plan did not work well at all. He never was able to use it. The greatest number of fish he ever caught in one day was three, and you can't add twenty-five per cent to three — at least, not in fish.

So he increased his percentage to thirty-three-and-a-third; but that, again, was awkward, when he had only caught one or two; so, to simplify matters, he made up his mind to just double the quantity.

He stuck to this arrangement for a couple of months, and then he grew dissatisfied with it. Nobody believed him when he told them that he only doubled, and he, therefore, gained no credit that way whatever, while his moderation put him at a disadvantage among the other anglers. When he had really caught three small fish, and said he had caught six, it used to make him quite jealous to hear a man, whom he knew for a fact had only caught one, going about telling people he had landed two dozen.

So, eventually, he made one final arrangement with himself (поэтому в конце концов он вступил в соглашение с самим собой; to make arrangements with somebody — договариваться, уславливаться с кем-либо), which he has religiously held to ever since (которого строго придерживается с тех пор), and that was to count each fish that he caught as ten, and to assume ten to begin with (считать каждую рыбу, которую он ловит, за десять, и /всегда/ начинать с десяти; to assume — брать на себя /ответственность/; допускать, предполагать; притворяться). For example, if he did not catch any fish at all, then he said he had caught ten fish (например, если он вообще не поймал ни одной рыбы, тогда он говорил, что поймал десять) — you could never catch less than ten fish by his system (нельзя было поймать меньше, чем десять рыб, по его системе); that was the foundation of it (в этом была ее основа). Then, if by any chance he really did catch one fish, he called it twenty (если в действительности он случайно и ловил одну рыбу, то считал ее за двадцать), while two fish would count thirty, three forty, and so on (тогда как две рыбы считал за тридцать, три — за сорок и так далее).