I am not a good fisherman myself (сам я неважный рыболов)
. I devoted a considerable amount of attention to the subject at one time (я посвящал значительную часть внимания этому делу одно время), and was getting on, as I thought, fairly well (и делал успехи в нем, как полагал, довольно неплохие); but the old hands told me that I should never be any real good at it, and advised me to give it up (но старые рыбаки сказали мне, что я никогда не стану действительно хорош в этом занятии, и посоветовали мне бросить его). They said that I was an extremely neat thrower (они сказали, что я чрезвычайно искусный метатель = замечательно закидываю удочку; neat — чистый, аккуратный; искусный, ловкий), and that I seemed to have plenty of gumption for the thing, and quite enough constitutional laziness (что, кажется, я обладаю большой сообразительностью для этого дела и у меня вдоволь врожденной лености). But they were sure I should never make anything of a fisherman (но они были уверены, что я никогда не стану рыболовом). I had not got sufficient imagination (у меня не было достаточно воображения).
extremely [ɪkˈstri:mlɪ] sufficient [sǝˈfɪʃ(ǝ)nt]
The Angler's Guide to the Thames
says that "jack and perch are also to be had about here," but there the Angler's Guide is wrong. Jack and perch may be about there. Indeed, I know for a fact that they are. You can see them there in shoals, when you are out for a walk along the banks: they come and stand half out of the water with their mouths open for biscuits. And, if you go for a bathe, they crowd round, and get in your way, and irritate you. But they are not to be "had" by a bit of worm on the end of a hook, nor anything like it — not they!I am not a good fisherman myself. I devoted a considerable amount of attention to the subject at one time, and was getting on, as I thought, fairly well; but the old hands told me that I should never be any real good at it, and advised me to give it up. They said that I was an extremely neat thrower, and that I seemed to have plenty of gumption for the thing, and quite enough constitutional laziness. But they were sure I should never make anything of a fisherman. I had not got sufficient imagination.
They said that as a poet, or a shilling shocker (сказали, что в качестве поэта, /автора/ дешевых бульварных романов)
, or a reporter, or anything of that kind, I might be satisfactory (репортера или чего-нибудь в этом роде я, может, буду достаточным = добьюсь успеха; satisfactory — удовлетворительный; достаточный; приятный, хороший), but that, to gain any position as a Thames angler (но чтобы получить какое-нибудь положение = сделать имя в качестве удильщика на Темзе), would require more play of fancy, more power of invention than I appeared to possess (потребовалось бы больше фантазии, больше способности к выдумке, чем я, видимо, имел; play — игра, представление; деятельность; простор; to appear — казаться, иметь вид, выглядеть).