The Determined Angler and the Brook Trout - an anthological volume of trout fishing, trout histories, - trout lore, trout resorts, and trout tackle

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Title: The Determined Angler and the Brook Trout - an anthological volume of trout fishing, trout histories, - trout lore, trout resorts, and trout tackle
Author: Bradford, Charles Barker, 1862-1917
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Determined Angler and the Brook Trout - an anthological volume of trout fishing, trout histories, - trout lore, trout resorts, and trout tackle" ***

=By Charles Bradford=

=The Determined Angler=

"Most sensible volume of its kind."--Grover
Cleveland. 12º. illustrated.
By mail, $1.10. $1.00

=The Angler's Secret=

"A modern 'Compleat Angler.'"--N.
Y. Times. 16mo illustrated. By
mail, $1.10 $1.00

=The Angler's Guide=

"A valuable volume of reference for
the Angler."--Dr. Jas. A. Henshall.
200 pgs. By mail, 80 cts. .75

=The Wildfowlers=

A volume of duck shooting. "A
classic."--N. Y. World. 16mo illustrated.
By mail, $1.10 $1.00

=Frank Forester=

Life and Writings of the Father of
American Fishing and Field Sports.
By mail, $1.10 $1.00

[Illustration: A MORNING'S CATCH OF TROUT NEAR SPOKANE, WASHINGTON

"Three times too many for one rod."--_William T. Hornaday_
An object lesson on the too-liberal fish laws. _See page 38_]

The Determined Angler
and the
Brook Trout

An Anthological Volume of Trout Fishing.
Trout Histories, Trout Lore, Trout
Resorts, and Trout Tackle

Charles Bradford

Author of "The Wildfowlers," "The Angler's Secret."
"The Angler's Guide," "Frank Forester," etc.

[Illustration]

_Second Edition, Greatly Enlarged_

_Illustrated_

G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York London
The Knickerbocker Press
1916

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

J. CHARLES DAVIS

THESE LITTLE YARNS ARE DEDICATED IN REMEMBRANCE OF SOME DELIGHTFUL
OUTINGS PASSED IN HIS SOCIETY.

THE BROOK TROUT'S HOME

"I am _Salmo fontinalis_.
To the sparkling fountain born;
And my home is where oxalis.
Heather bell and rose adorn
The crystal basin in the dell
(Undine the wood-nymph knows it well):
That is where I love to dwell.

There was I baptized and christened,
'Neath the somber aisles of oak;
Mute the cascade paused and listened.
Never a word the brooklet spoke;
Bobolink was witness then.
Likewise grosbeak, linnet, wren--
And all the fairies joined "amen!"

Thus as _Salmo fontinalis_
Recognized the wide world o'er.
In my limpid crystal palace.
Content withal, I ask no more.
Leaping through the rainbow spray.
Snatching flies the livelong day.
Naught to do but eat and play."

CHARLES HALLOCK.

BROOK TROUT ANGLING

"... it carries us into the most wild and beautiful scenery of
nature; amongst the mountain lakes, and the clear and lovely streams
that gush from the higher ranges of elevated hills, or that make their
way through the cavities of calcareous strata. How delightful in the
early spring, after the dull and tedious time of winter, when the
frosts disappear and the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to
wander forth by some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting from the
purple bud, to scent the odors of the bank perfumed by the violet, and
enameled, as it were, with the primrose and the daisy; to wander upon
the fresh turf below the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms are
filled with the music of the bee; and on the surface of the waters to
view the gaudy flies sparkling like animated gems in the sunbeams,
whilst the bright and beautiful trout is watching them from below; to
hear the twittering of the water-birds, who, alarmed at your approach,
rapidly hide themselves beneath the flowers and leaves of the
water-lily; and as the season advances, to find all these objects
changed for others of the same kind, but better and brighter, till the
swallow and the trout contend as it were for the gaudy May fly, and
till in pursuing your amusement in the calm and balmy evening, you are
serenaded by the songs of the cheerful thrush ... performing the
offices of paternal love, in thickets ornamented with the rose and
woodbine."--_Days of Fly Fishing, 1828._

"Gentlemen, let not prejudice prepossess you. I confess my discourse
is like to prove suitable to my recreation, calm and quiet.... And so
much for the prologue of what I mean to say-"

Izaak Walton

[Illustration]

PREFACE

"Don't give up if you don't catch fish; the unsuccessful trip should
whet your appetite to try again."--GROVER CLEVELAND.

A preface is either an excuse or an explanation, or both. The Brook
Trout needs no excuse, and it is fully explained in the general text
of this volume. Nor does the Angler, be he Determined or otherwise,
need any excuse, because "our Saviour chose simple fishermen ... St.
Peter, St. John, St. Andrew, and St. James, whom he inspired, and He
never reproved these for their employment or calling" (Izaak Walton,
_The Compleat Angler_, 1653). And the Angler--the man--needs no
explanation, though it seems ever necessary to define the word.

Webster, himself a profound Angler, must have been unconscious of his
gentle bearing, for his definition of "angle" is simply: "to fish,"
and every Angler knows that merely to fish--to go forth indifferent of
correct (humane) tackle, the legal season, and ethical methods in the
pursuit--is not the way of the Angler.

I like the explanation of the word by Genio C. Scott: "Angling, a
special kind of fishing."

The inspired landscape genius and the kalsominer who shellacs the
artist's studio are both painters; so, the gentle Angler with perfect
tackle and the mere hand-line fish taker are both fishermen.

The Angler is the highest order of fisherman, and while all Anglers
are fishermen there are many fishermen who are not Anglers.

"Anglo-Saxon," writing in the New York _Press_. October 14, 1915, uses
the term "gentleman Anglers." He should have said "gentleman
fishermen" (Anglers), because all Anglers are gentlemen, regardless of
their business calling, appearance, personality, companionship, etc.
When a man, fisherman or no fisherman, develops into an Angler he must
first become gentle in order to be of the gentle art. "Angling is the
gentle art" (Walton). "The gentle art of angling" (Cotton).

"If true Anglers," says Genio C. Scott, "you are sure to be gentle."

Peter Flint (New York _Press_, Oct. 15, 1915): "Our most successful
Anglers, amateurs as well as professionals."

All Anglers are amateurs, brother Peter. There are no professional
Anglers, though there are both amateur and professional fishermen, and
those fishermen who are amateurs are Anglers. The word "amateur" seems
to be adrift upon the same bewildering tideway as the words "angler"
and "angling." "Amateur" hasn't the definition commonly attributed to
it--it doesn't signify inefficiency, inexperience, unpracticality,
etc., as do the words "beginner," "neophyte," "tyro," etc. An amateur
in fishing, or farming, or any other pastime or pursuit, may be far
more practical, more experienced, more proficient, and better equipped
in tools and paraphernalia than a professional, and he usually is so;
he is certainly always so in angling.

Watch your word.

"It is the belief of Acker that hand-line fishing is as good [as], if
not better than, the rod and reel kind." (Wandering Angler, New York
_Press_, Aug. 17, 1915.)

Hand-line fishing, as fishing,--though the Tuna Angling Club, of Santa
Catalina Island, California, is bound to the use of light rods and
fine reels and tells us hand-lines are unsportsmanlike and detrimental
to the public interest,--is good (Christ and His disciples sanctioned
it), but to say it is as good as or better than rod and reel angling
is not convincing. The indifferent fisher can't condemn angling in
praising common fishing with any more reason than he might proclaim
against cricket playing in favoring carpentry, or _vice versa_. One
might as correctly say hand-line fishing is as good as riding, or
driving, or golf, or baseball, or canoeing (of course it is), for
fishing without rod and reel and fishing with proper tackle are
pursuits as distinct in character as riding a plain horse bareback
with a rough halter, and straddling a gallant charger with neat bridle
and saddle; or as mere boating upon a refuse creek, and skimming the
green billows in a trim yacht.

That the fisher's hand-line and the fisherman's net will take _more_
fish than the Angler's tackle is not of moment, because a stick of
dynamite or a cannon filled with leaden pellets or a boy with a market
basket will take still more fish than the net and hand-line. Quantity
makes fishing "good" with the fisherman; quality delights the Angler.
There is no objection to the mere fish-getter filling his boat with
fishes with or without tackle, but as the jockey is separated from the
sportsman rider and the sailor from the yachtsman so should the
quantity fisher and the quality Angler be considered in contrasting
spheres. "What a man brings home in his heart after fishing is of
more account than what he brings in his basket," says W. J. Long.
"Anglers encourage the adoption of angling methods," says Dr. Van
Dyke, "which make the wholesale slaughter of fishes impossible and
increase the sport of taking a fair number in a fair way."

As chivalric single-missile bow-and-arrow exercise dignifies archery
above bunch-arrow work in war, so the gentle use of refined tackle
dignifies angling above mere fish getting. Trap shooting is
delightful, and more birds are killed than the gunner would bag in
marsh and meadow, but is trap shooting therefore more "good" than
game-shooting in the glorious fields and forests? No, sir; and though
the hand-line fisherman may honestly take half the ocean's yield,
still his pursuit and his catch cannot equal and cannot be
legitimately compared to the code and the creel of the competent
Angler.

=C. B.=

RICHMOND HILL,
LONG ISLAND, N. Y.,
_March, 1916_.

AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The article "Fly Fishing for Trout," I contributed in its original
form to _Sports Afield_, Mr. Claude King's Western journal.

The article "Trout and Trouting," as I originally prepared it, was
entitled "Near-by Trout Streams," and was written for and published in
_Outing_, when I was field editor of that delightful magazine.

"Trouting in Canadensis Valley" is rewritten from a little story of
mine penned at the suggestion of the noted angler and ichthyologist,
the late William C. Harris, and published by him in his _The American
Angler_ when I became his managing editor.

"Trout Flies, Artificial and Natural" and "The Brook Trout Incognito"
are elaborations of studies I composed for _Forest and Stream_.

And many of the items in "Little Casts," etc., are from a collection
of paragraphs I have contributed to the New York _Herald_, the New
York _Press_, and various sporting periodicals in past years.

The extracts from the article by Willis Boyd Allen are reprinted by
permission of _Scribner's Magazine_.

For the little pen-and-ink sketches I am indebted to our jovial
artist, Leppert.

The picture, "Taking the Fly," is a reproduction from an etching in my
possession, presented to me by Mr. William M. Carey, whose etchings
and paintings in oil are well known to American sportsmen.

"The Fly Rod's Victim" is reproduced from a photograph framed in
birch bark and presented to me by the poet, Isaac McLellan.

"The Brook Trout" illustration is from a photograph of a captive
specimen in an aquarium, the engraving being loaned me by the late
John P. Burkhard.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I.--THE HOLY ANGLERS 1

II.--HISTORIES OF THE TROUTS--HOW
THE ANGLER TAKES THEM 7

III.--THE ANGLER AND THE FISHERMAN 15

IV.--FLY-FISHING 21

V.--WALTON'S WAY 33

VI.--THE WANTON WAY 38

VII.--FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT 41

VIII.--THE ANGLER'S PRAYER--SAVE THE
WOODS AND WATERS 52

IX.--TROUT AND TROUTING 56

X.--TROUTING IN CANADENSIS VALLEY 64

XI.--THE TROUTER'S OUTFIT 68

XII.--TROUT FLIES, ARTIFICIAL AND
NATURAL 71

XIII.--THE BROOK TROUT'S RIVAL 84

XIV.--TROUT ON BARBLESS HOOKS 87

XV.--THE BROOK TROUT INCOGNITO 92

XVI.--HOOKING THE TROUT 102

XVII.--DOCTOR NATURE 104

XVIII.--THE BROOK TROUT 106

XIX.--THE ANGLER 112

XX.--ANGLING 119

XXI.--TROUT FLIES 133

XXII.--CASTING THE FLY 138

XXIII.--TACKLE TALKS 142

XXIV.--THE ANGLER'S KITCHEN 149

XXV.--CARE AND BREEDING OF TROUT 151

XXVI.--THE ANGLER'S CLOTHING AND
FOOTWEAR 153

XXVII.--LITTLE CASTS 155

XVIII.--BORROWED LINES 157

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

A MORNING'S CATCH OF TROUT NEAR SPOKANE.
WASHINGTON _Frontispiece_

BROOK TROUT 8

MALMA (DOLLY VARDEN) TROUT 8

LAKE (MACKINAW) TROUT 8

OQUASSA (BLUE-BACK) TROUT 10

BROWN TROUT 10

YELLOWSTONE TROUT 10

SAIBLING TROUT (LONG-FIN CHARR) 10

RAINBOW TROUT 12

LAKE TAHOE TROUT 12

STEEL-HEAD TROUT 12

AN UNUSUAL WAY OF TAKING THE FLY 46

THE TROUT BROOK 66

The Determined Angler

CHAPTER I

THE HOLY ANGLERS

"The greater number of them [Christ's disciples] were found
together, fishing, by Jesus, after His Resurrection."--IZAAK
WALTON.

"... certain poor fishermen coming in very weary after a night of
toil (and one of them very wet after swimming ashore) found their
Master standing on the bank of the lake waiting for them. But it
seems that He must have been busy in their behalf while he was
waiting; for there was a bright fire of coals on the shore, and a
goodly fish broiling thereon, and bread to eat with it. And when
the Master had asked them about their fishing he said: 'Come, now,
and get your breakfast.' So they sat down around the fire, and
with His own hands he served them with the bread and the
fish."--HENRY VAN DYKE.

"The first men that our Saviour dear
Did choose to wait upon Him here.
Blest fishers were...."
W. BASSE.

"I would ... fish in the sky whose bottom is pebbly with
stars."--THOREAU.

The principal fishes of the Sea of Galilee to-day are the same as they
were two thousand years ago--bream and chub. These were taken in
olden times by both net and hook and line.

The fishermen whom Christ chose as His disciples--Peter. Andrew,
James, and John--were professional net fishermen, but hook and line
fishing was a favorite pastime of the well-to-do Egyptians as well as
the poor people who could not afford a net.

Weirs not unlike the modern article were used in the Holy Land in
Bible time, excepting on Lake Gennesaret, where the law of the land
forbade them.

The bream and the chub were eaten alike by rich and poor people.
Wayfarers roasted them over chip fires in the groves and on the lake
shores, housewives boiled and broiled them, and the wealthy man served
them at his banquets. "Moses, the friend of God," writes Izaak Walton,
in his immortal _Compleat Angler_, quoting from Lev. xi., 9, Deut.,
xiv., 9, "appointed fish to be the chief diet for the best
commonwealth that ever yet was. The mightiest feasts have been of
fish."

Our Saviour "fed the people on fish when they were hungry." The
species is not alluded to in the Biblical paragraph, but no doubt the
fish feasts of the Lord were mostly of chub and bream. Jesus loved
fishermen and was in their society most of His time. No other class of
men were so well favored by Him. He inspired St. Peter, St. John, St.
Andrew, and St. James, poor fishermen, who drew their nets for the
people, and these four fishermen, declares Father Izaak, "He never
reproved for their employment or calling, as he did scribes and money
changers."

The Lord's favorite places of labor and repose--the places He most
frequented--were near the fishes and fisherman. "He began to teach by
the seaside. His pulpit was a fishing boat or the shore of a lake. He
was in the stern of the boat, asleep. He was always near the water to
cheer and comfort those who followed it." And Walton tells us that
"when God intended to reveal high notions to His prophets He carried
them to the shore, that He might settle their mind in a quiet repose."

Bream and chub are not monster fishes--they do not average the great
weights of the tarpon and the tuna; they are of the small and
medium-size species; so, if the apostles were pleased with "ye gods
and little fishes," we mortals of to-day should be satisfied with our
catch, be it ever so small.

APPELLATIONS OF THE TROUTS

Trout, Bear: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Beardslee: _See_ Crescent Lake Blue-Back
Trout, Black-spotted Salmon
Trout, Blue-Back: _See_ Oquassa Trout
Trout, Brook
Trout, Brown
Trout, Canada: _See_ Greenland Trout
Trout, Canada Sea: _See_ Brook Trout and Greenland Trout
Trout, Colorado River: _See_ Black-Spotted
Trout, Columbia River: _See_ Black-Spotted
Trout, Cousin: _See_ Roach
Trout, Crescent Lake Blue-Back
Trout, Crescent Lake Long-Headed
Trout, Crescent Lake Speckled
Trout, Dolly Varden: _See_ Malma Trout
Trout, Dublin Pond
Trout, European Brown
Trout, Fresh-Water Cod: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Golden: _See_ Rainbow Salmon Trout and Sunapee
Trout, Great Lakes: _See_ Mackinaw
Trout, Green: _See_ Black Bass
Trout, Green-Back
Trout, Greenland
Trout, Hard-Head: _See_ Steel-Head Salmon Trout
Trout, Jordan
Trout, Kansas River: _See_ Kansas River Salmon Trout
Trout, Kern River: _See_ Rainbow
Trout, Lac de Marbre
Trout, Lake
Trout, Lake Salmon: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Lake Southerland Salmon
Trout, Lake Southerland Spotted: _See_ Jordan's Trout
Trout, Lake Tahoe: _See_ Lake Tahoe Salmon Trout
Trout, Lewis: _See_ Yellowstone Trout
Trout, Loch Leven
Trout, Lunge: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Mackinaw: _See_ Mackinaw Lake Trout
Trout, Mackinaw Lake
Trout, Malma
Trout, Marston: _See_ Lac de Marbre Trout
Trout, Mountain: _See_ Brook Trout, Small-Mouth Black Bass,
and Rainbow Salmon Trout
Trout, Mt. Whitney: _See_ Rainbow
Trout, Mucqua Lake: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Namaycush: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Namaycush Lake
Trout, Nissuee: _See_ Rainbow
Trout, Noshee: _See_ Rainbow
Trout, Oquassa
Trout, Pickerel: _See_ Long Island Pickerel
Trout, Pickerel: _See_ Long Island Pickerel
Trout, Pike: _See_ Long Island Pickerel
Trout, Pike: _See_ Long Island Pickerel
Trout, Rainbow: _See_ Rainbow Salmon Trout
Trout, Rainbow Lake: _See_ Rainbow Salmon Trout
Trout, Red: _See_ Lac de Marbre Trout
Trout, Red-Spotted: _See_ Malma Trout
Trout, Rio Grande: _See_ Rio Grande Salmon Trout
Trout, Rio Grande Salmon
Trout, Saibling
Trout, Salmon
Trout, Sea: _See_ Greenland Trout and Brook Trout
Trout, Silver: _See_ Black-Spotted Salmon Trout and Lake Tahoe
Salmon Trout
Trout, Siskawitz: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Siscowet: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Stone's: _See_ Rainbow
Trout, Sunapee
Trout, Tahoe
Trout, Togue: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Truckee: _See_ Lake Tahoe
Trout, Tuladi: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Utah
Trout, Waha Lake: _See_ Waha Lake Salmon Trout
Trout, Waha Lake Salmon
Trout, Western Oregon Brook: _See_ Rainbow
Trout, White: _See_ Sunapee
Trout, Winipiseogee: _See_ Lake Trout
Trout, Yellow-Fin
Trout, Yellowstone

CHAPTER II

HISTORIES OF THE TROUTS--HOW THE ANGLER TAKES THEM

=Trout, Brook= (Speckled Trout, Mountain Trout. Fontinalis, Speckled
Beauty, Spotted Trout, etc.): Caught in the spring and summer in clear
streams, lakes, and ponds, on the artificial fly. Favors eddies,
riffles, pools, and deep spots under the banks of the stream and near
rocks and fallen trees. Feeds on small fish, flies, and worms. Breeds
in the autumn. Weighs up to ten pounds in large waters. There is a
record of one weighing eleven pounds. This specimen was taken in
northwestern Maine. Averages three quarters of a pound to one pound
and a half in the streams, and one pound to three pounds in the lakes
and ponds. Occurs between latitude 32-1/2° and 55°, in the lakes and
streams of the Atlantic watershed, near the sources of a few rivers
flowing into the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, and some of the
southern affluents of Hudson Bay, its range being limited by the
western foothills of the Alleghanies, extending about three hundred
miles from the coast, except about the Great Lakes, in the northern
tributaries of which it abounds. It also inhabits the headwaters of
the Chattahoochee, in the southern spurs of the Georgia Alleghanies
and tributaries of the Catawba in North Carolina, and clear waters of
the great islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence--Anticosti, Cape
Breton. Prince Edward, and Newfoundland; and abounds in New York,
Michigan, Connecticut, Pennsylvania. Maine, Long Island, Canada,
Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. For the larger specimens
use a six-ounce fly rod; for the tiny mountain specimens, a four-ounce
fly rod. Leaders: Single, fine, and long. Reel: Small click. Flies: 6
to 14 on the streams and 4 to 6 on the lakes and ponds. Patterns:
Quaker, Oak, Coachman, Dark Stone, Red Hackle. Blue Bottle, Bradford,
Wren, Cahil, Brown Drake. Brandreth, Canada, Page, Professor, Codun,
Dark Coachman, and the Palmers--green, gray, red, and brown. Use dark
colors on bright days and early in the season; lighter shades on dark
days, in the evening, and as the season grows warmer.

=Trout, Crescent Lake Blue-Back= (_Salmo beardsleei_): Beardslee
Trout, etc. A deep-water fish weighing up to fourteen pounds, found
only in Crescent Lake. Washington, and taken during April, May, June,
and October, chiefly on the troll. Leaps from the water when hooked.
Color: Upper, deep blue ultramarine; lower, white.

=Trout, Crescent Lake Long-Headed= (_Salmo bathæcetor_): Closely
related to the Steel-Head Trout. A deep-water fish of Lake Crescent,
Washington, caught only on set lines within a foot of the bottom. Will
not come to the surface; will not take the fly or trolling spoon.
Somewhat resembles the speckled trout of Crescent Lake, though more
slender and of lighter color.

=Trout, Crescent Lake Speckled= (_Salmo crescentis_): Closely
resembles the Steel-Head. Weighs up to ten pounds. Found in
Crescent Lake, Washington. An excellent game fish.

[Illustration: _Brook Trout._]

[Illustration: _Malma (Dolly Varden) Trout._]

[Illustration: _Lake (Mackinaw) Trout._]

=Trout, Dublin Pond= (_Salvelinus agassizii_): Inhabitant of Center
and Dublin Pond and Lake Monadnock, etc., New Hampshire. Differs from
the Brook Trout in being pale gray in color and more slender. Reaches
a length of eight inches. Brook Trout tackle.

=Trout, Green-Back= (_Salmo stomias_): A small black-spotted species,
inhabiting the head waters of the Arkansas and Platte rivers; abundant
in brooks, streams, and shallow parts of lakes. Common in the waters
near Leadville and in Twin Lakes, Colorado, in company with the
Yellow-Fin Trout, which see. Weighs up to one pound.

=Trout, Greenland= (_Canada Sea Trout_): Caught in midsummer on medium
Brook Trout tackle in Labrador, the rivers of considerable size in
Canada, and the lakes of Greenland. Rivals the Atlantic Salmon in
size, and is a fine sporting species. Averages two pounds in weight.
It frequents the sandy pits that are uncovered at half-tide. Higher up
the rivers it is found in the pools.

=Trout, Jordan's= (_Salmo jardani_): Lake Southerland Spotted Trout,
etc. Inhabits Lake Southerland, west of Puget Sound. Caught on the
artificial fly as late as October, and is a great leaper. Is
black-spotted. Resembles the Utah Trout in color and the Steel-head
Trout in shape.

=Trout, Kamloops= (_Salmo kamloops_): Stit-tse, etc. A form of the
Steel-Head. Abounds in Okanogan, Kamloops, Kootenai lakes, and other
waters tributary to the Frazer and upper Columbia rivers. Taken
chiefly on the troll. A large, gamy, graceful, slender fish. Color:
Dark olive above, bright silvery below.

=Trout, Lac de Marbre= (_Salvelinus marstoni_): Marston Trout, etc.
Found in Lac de Marbre, near Ottawa, the lakes of the Lake St. John
district, Lac à Cassette in Rimouski county, and Lake Soccacomi and
the Red Lakes in Maskinonge County, Canada. Takes the fly readily.
Color: Upper, dark brown; below, whitish pink unspotted. Reaches a
length of one foot.

=Trout, Lake= (Togue, Fresh-Water Cod, Tuladi. Lunge, etc.): Caught on
medium tackle with the troll and minnow bait in deep water, and, early
in the season, near the surface, the young rising to artificial trout
flies in rapid water. Occurs in all the great lakes of New Brunswick
and in many similar waters in Maine. Attains a weight of twenty-one
pounds. Haunts deep water as a rule, though often steals to the shoals
and shores in search of food, small fish, early in the morning and at
twilight.

=Trout, Lake= (Siscowet, Siskawitz): Caught on medium tackle and
small-fish bait along the north shores of Lake Superior. Haunts deep
water and feeds upon a species of sculpin. Attains a weight of thirty
pounds; averages four pounds. Its habits closely resemble those of the
Mackinaw Lake Trout.

=Trout, Lake= (Mucqua, Bear Trout, etc.): Caught in deep water on
medium tackle and small-fish bait on the south shore of Lake Superior.
Closely resembles the Siscowet Lake Trout of the same lake, if it
is not, as many think, merely a local variety of the same form.

[Illustration: _Oquassa (Blue-back) Trout._]

[Illustration: _Brown Trout._]

[Illustration: _Yellowstone Trout._]

[Illustration: _Saibling Trout (Long-fin Charr)._]

=Trout, Lake= (Winipiseogee Trout): Caught on medium tackle and
small-fish bait in Lake Winipiseogee and supposedly in Lake George.

=Trout, Lake= (Mackinaw Trout, Namaycush, Lake Salmon, Salmon Trout,
etc.): Caught with medium tackle on the troll and with minnow bait in
deep water in the chain of Great Lakes from Superior to Ontario, also
in Lake Champlain, New York, and other lakes of the United States and
British America, occurring also to the northeastward, in Mackinaw
River and in the Knowall River, Alaska. Is known as Mackinaw Trout in
Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, and as Lake Salmon and Salmon
Trout in the lakes of northern New York. Is said to attain a weight of
ninety pounds and a length of six feet.

=Trout, Malma= (Dolly Varden Trout, Bull Trout. Speckled Trout, Lake
Trout, Red-Spotted Trout. Salmon Trout, Chewagh, etc.): Caught on
Brook Trout tackle in fresh water and Black Bass tackle in the ocean.
Occurs in northern California, west of the Cascade Range, throughout
the Aleutian Islands, and northward to Colville River in Alaska, and
is not unknown at Behring Island, and Plover Bay, Siberia. Taken in
the sea it is called Salmon Trout; in the lakes it is called by all
the names parenthesized above. In salt water it feeds upon shrimp,
smelt, young trout, sand lance, anchovy, herring, etc.; in fresh
water small fish, worms, etc. Weighs up to fourteen pounds in the
ocean; averages smaller in the lakes.

=Trout, Oquassa= (Blue-Back Trout): Caught on Brook Trout tackle in
the lakes of western Maine. New York, and New Hampshire. Attains a
length of ten inches.

=Trout, Saibling:= Caught on Brook Trout tackle in Massachusetts, New
York, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin. A native of northwestern Europe,
introduced in American Brook Trout waters.

=Trout, Sunapee= (_Salvelinus aureolus_): American Saibling, White
Trout, Golden Trout, Charr, etc. A native of Sunapee Lake, N. H., and
Flood Pond. Ellsworth, Maine, now being introduced in other lakes.
Favors deep water; takes live bait. Weighs up to twelve pounds.

=Trout, Utah= (_Salmo virginalis_): Abounds in the streams and lakes
of Utah west of the Wasatch Mountains--in Utah Lake and the Sevier,
Jordan, Bear, and Provo rivers. Weighs up to twelve pounds.

=Trout, Yellow-Fin= (_Salmo macdonaldi_): Found in Twin Lakes,
Colorado, in company with the Green-Back Trout, from which it is
distinct in color, habits, and size. Weighs up to nine pounds. Is
caught on the artificial fly and with the troll. Favors gravel bottom
in deep water.

=Trout, Yellowstone= (_Salmo lewisi_): Abundant in Yellowstone Lake,
Wyoming, and throughout the Snake River Basin above Shoshone Falls,
and the headwaters of the Missouri.

[Illustration: _Rainbow Trout._]

[Illustration: _Lake Tahoe Trout._]

[Illustration: _Steel-head Trout._]

=Salmon Trout, Black-Spotted= (Silver Trout, Black Trout,
Black-Spotted Trout, Preestl, etc.): Caught on the artificial fly in
the Rocky Mountain region, the lakes of New Mexico, Utah, Western
Colorado, Wyoming. Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The young
are abundant in Puget Sound, and are occasionally taken along the
California coast. Weighs up to thirty pounds.

=Salmon Trout, Brown= (Brown Trout, etc.): Caught on the artificial
fly practically the same as Brook Trout are taken. Same rods, tackle,
and flies. Introduced in this country from Europe. Weighs up to twenty
pounds.

=Salmon Trout, Kansas River:= Caught on Brook Trout tackle from the
Kansas River to the upper Missouri. Reaches twenty-four inches in
length.

=Salmon Trout, Lake Southerland= (_Salmo declivifrons_): Found only in
Lake Southerland. Reaches a length of ten inches; is very gamy; takes
the fly, and leaps.

=Salmon Trout, Lake Tahoe= (Lake Tahoe Trout, Silver Trout, Black
Trout, etc.): Caught in Lake Tahoe. Pyramid Lake, and the streams of
the Sierra Nevada on Brook Trout tackle. Weighs up to twenty pounds.

=Salmon Trout, Loch Leven= (Loch Leven Trout, etc.): Introduced to
this country from Europe, in streams in Michigan, Maine, and other
States. Is taken on the artificial fly the same as Brook Trout.

=Salmon Trout, Rainbow= (Rainbow Trout, Golden Trout, Golden Salmon,
Brook Trout, Speckled Trout. Mountain Trout, etc.): Caught with the
artificial fly in fresh streams and salt rivers. Occurs from near the
Mexican line to Oregon and has been successfully introduced in the
Eastern and Northern States, where it is taken upon ordinary Brook
Trout tackle--light fly rod, fine leader, click reel, etc. Flies, same
as those flailed for Brook Trout. Season: Same as Brook Trout. Weighs
up to six pounds.

=Salmon Trout, Rio Grande:= Abundant in the headwaters of the Rio
Grande, Rio Colorado, and their tributaries; occurs in Bear River and
the streams of Utah.

=Salmon Trout, Steel-Head= (Hard-Head, Steel-Head Trout, etc.): Caught
mostly in nets. Reaches a weight of twenty-two pounds. Found along the
Pacific coast from the Sacramento River northward to Alaska. Abundant
in the Columbia and Frazer rivers in the spring. Inhabits
river-mouths.

=Salmon Trout, Waha Lake= (Waha Lake Trout, etc.): Caught on Brook
Trout tackle. A local form of the Black-Spotted Salmon Trout, found in
Waha Lake, a landlocked mountain tarn in Washington.

CHAPTER III

THE ANGLER AND THE FISHERMAN

One profound proof of the soundness in the philosophy that teaches
against wantonly wasteful slaughter in the chase is the disinclination
on the part of certain so-called sportsmen--a vulgar gentry that
resort to the woods and waters solely because it is fashionable to do
so--and their guides to honorably dispose of their game after the
killing. These greedy snobs are viciously adverse to losing a single
bird or fish in the pursuit, but they think little of letting the game
rot in the sun after the play. With this fact easily provable any day
in the year, it may be said that outside of market fishing and camp
fishing for the pot the one real object in fishing and angling is the
pursuit itself and not the quarry.

In baseball, it's the game, not the bases; in archery, it's the
straightest shooting, not the target. True, we play cards for prizes,
but surely as much for the game itself, not altogether for the prizes,
because it is possible to buy the prizes or their equivalent outright
or take the prizes by force.

My bayman develops fits bordering closely upon incurable hysteria if I
lose a single bluefish in the play, but he worries not when he goes
ashore with a sloopful of hand-liners and half a hundred fish he
cannot make good use of.

"Pull it in! you'll lose it!" "We could catch a hundred if you
wouldn't fool!" "The other boats'll beat us badly!" "There's a million
right 'round the boat!"

These are a few of his excitable expressions. But, when I say to him,
"What's the difference, Captain, in losing one or two fish here and
wasting half a hundred on shore?" he calms down for a minute or two.
Only for a minute or two, however, for he's in the game solely for
fish, not the fishing. It's all numbers and size with him, and he's
encouraged in this greed by nine out of every ten men he takes aboard
his boat.

"We caught fifty," says Tom.

"We caught a hundred and ten," says Dick.

"We caught two hundred and sixty," says Harry.

And so the bayman brags, too, because it's purely business with him.

I have always found the greatest pleasure in fishing is the fishing
and not the blood and bones associated with the pursuit. I would
rather take five fair fish on fine tackle correctly manipulated than
fill the hold with a hundred horrid monsters mastered by mere
strength, as in hand-line trolling for bluefish in the ocean and for
muskellonge, etc., in fresh water.

"But," says Captain Getemanyway, "I can catch more fish with a
hand-line than you can with your fine rod and reel."

"Of course you can," I reply, "and you could catch more if you used a
net, a stick of dynamite, or a shotgun."

If it's the fish alone that is the object of the Angler's eye, why
resort to any sort of tackle when there's a fish stall in every
bailiwick?

There is great need of enlightenment in the common ethics of angling.
Many persons are under the impression that quantity rather than
quality makes the Angler's day.

According to their view of the pursuit, fishing is judged by figures,
as in finance--glory to the man with the biggest balance. This is not
so, because with this view accepted, Rockefeller would shine above
Christ, Shakespeare, and Lincoln.

The mere catch--the number of fish taken--is only one little detail;
it is not all of angling. If it were, the superior fisherman would be
the man who got his fish in any manner.

Some of our greatest Anglers purposely never excel in the matter of
numbers. The Angler's true qualities are based on the application of
correct tackle, correct methods in fishing, and a correct appreciation
of the pursuit, the game, the day, and the craft.

'Tis the day and the play, not the heads and hides that count.

An ancient writer says of the royal hounds: "The hunter loves to see
the hounds pursue the hare, and he is glad if the hare escapes." So it
is in angling; we do not wish to catch all the fish we can take in any
fashion. We want to take some of them in a proper manner with
appropriate implements.

"I can catch more trout with the angleworm and more bass with the
trolling spoon than you can with the artificial fly," says Robert.

"Of course you can, Robert," say I, "and you could catch still more if
you spread a screen across the tiny stream or set a trap, or if you
used a set line with a hundred hooks, just as the target shooter might
more readily puncture the circle with a charge of shot than with the
single bullet, or just as the greedyman with a blunderbuss might excel
in number the wing shot by potting quail bunched on the ground instead
of chivalrously bagging single birds on the wing with a pertinent arm."

The neophyte always confounds the angler with the indiscriminate
fisherman and so implicates the angler in the cruelty and wastefulness
associated with mere chance fishing, when in fact the Angler is the
real propagator and protector of the fishes, and is in no sense cruel
or wasteful.

The laws that prohibit greedy catches, and protect the mother fish in
breeding time, are made by, enforced by, and supported financially by
the Angler.

The rearing of the fishes that are placed in depleted waters was
originated by, is conducted by, and is paid for by the Angler.

No other class has earnestly bothered its head, honestly lifted its
hands, or liberally opened its purse in these matters, and the nearest
association man in general has with the preservation of both wild fish
and fowl is in uttering a cowardly, false accusation against the one
who really deserves sole credit for the work, the sportsman, the
genuine field sportsman, not the vicious sporting man of the race
track, cockpit, and gambling den--two distinct species of animal, as
vastly separated in character as the deerhound and the dragon.

And why this charge against the innocent? Simply because the guilty
wish to shield and profit themselves, as the thief cries fire that he
may pick your pocket in the panic that ensues.

But then there is a well meaning but wholly unenlightened element,
that, influenced by the cry of the methodical spoiler, ignorantly
condemns the honest man--the really humane men and women who are
sincere in their condemnation but totally ignorant of their subject.

One of this sort, an estimable woman in public life, loudly preaches
against the chase and is all the time drawing dividends that provide
her with the means to indulge in the vulgarest and cruelest of
fashionable extravagances--among them the wool of the unborn lamb,
furs from the backs of fast-disappearing quadrupeds, and feathers of
the farmers' most valuable insect-destroying song birds--and these
wicked dividends derived from several acid factories, a gas house, a
power plant, and a dye works that have not only killed off the
trillions of fishes in several rivers but destroyed forever the very
habitat of the species!

Another of this sort is well exemplified in the character of an old
gentleman in Pennsylvania who loudly proclaims against trout fishing,
but who utterly ruins nearly eight miles of trout water, once the home
of thousands of lordly fish, by permitting his mill hands to run off
sawdust in the streams.

This poor, ignorant soul objects to you and me chivalrously taking
half a dozen specimens on the fly--catching the cunning trout with an
imitation of the living thing itself destroys by the thousands for
food and play--while he mercilessly slaughters the entire immediate
supply, and prevents further propagation of the whole species with the
refuse of his forest-devastating, money-making machine.

True, the Angler like all fishermen, and like the fishes themselves,
kills his specimens, but this killing is ordained by nature
herself--at least it has better grounds for excuse, if excuse it
needs, than that ten-fold more destructive killing _by_ the fishes
that not only slay for food, but actually mutilate millions upon
millions of their kind for the mere play afforded them in this
practice--and though the Angler may be in the wrong when he humanely
dispatches a few of the batch he breeds, he is not as hopeless as the
wanton fisher, or as brutal as the unenlightened "reformers," the
so-called humane lady with the fashionable furs and feathers of
fast-disappearing species she never turns a hair to replenish or
protect, and the old gentleman hypocrite with his murderous sawmill.

CHAPTER IV

FLY-FISHING

"Of all sports, commend me to angling; it is the wisest, virtuousest,
best."--THOMAS HOOD.

When I go fishing, it is for the purpose of catching fish; when I go
angling--fly-fishing--it is the soul I seek to replenish, not the
creel.

"One of the charms of angling," says Pritt, "is that it presents an
endless field for argument, speculation, and experiment."

True, but Anglers have no argument in the first feature of their
pastime--the object of it. Fishermen and men who do not go fishing or
angling argue that the object sought by the Angler is the fish, but
Anglers all agree that the game is but one of the trillion of pleasant
things that attract them to the pursuit of it.

They argue and speculate and experiment in the matter of rods and
tackle, and they argue as to the virtues of the various species, the
qualities of the waters, the conditions of the weather, but they have
ever been and ever will be calmly agreed as to the object of it
all--the love of studying rather than destroying the game, the love of
the pursuit itself.

They angle because of its healthfulness, and the consequent
exhilaration of mind and body that attends the gentle practice, not
merely for the fishes it may procure them, or for the sake of killing
something, as the unenlightened person charges, for the death of an
animal, to the Angler, is the saddest incident of his day.

All things animate, man included, were made to kill and to be killed.
The only crimes in killing are in killing our own kind, and in killing
any kind inhumanly.

And, of all creatures, the Angler is the least offender in these
crimes. The very game he seeks, though beautiful and gentle to the
eye, and, at times, noble in deed and purpose, is the most brutal
killer of all the races--the lovely trout in its attacks upon gaudy
flies, the valiant bass and pike in devouring their smaller brethren,
and the multitudinous sea-fishes, not alone in their feeding upon one
another, but in their wanton murder of the millions upon millions of
victims of their pure love of slaughter.

But, of fly-fishing for brook trout:

"Fly-fishing," says Dr. Henshall, "is the poetry of angling"; and "the
genuine Angler," says Frederick Pond, "is invariably a poet."

Fly-fishing, the highest order of angling, is indulged in in several
forms--in fresh water for salmon, trout, black bass, grayling, perch,
pike-perch, pickerel (Long Island brook pickerel), sunfish, roach,
dace, shad, herring (branch), etc.; in brackish water for shad, trout,
white perch, etc.; and in salt water for bluefish (young), herring
(common), mackerel, and--doubt not, kind sir, for I am prepared to
prove it--squeteague (weakfish), plaice (fluke, summer flounder), and
other species of both bottom and surface habitats--another "endless
field for argument, speculation, and experiment."

As there are many forms of fly-fishing, so are there many ways of
fly-fishing for trout, and many kinds of trout, the various forms of
brook trout, lake trout, and sea trout.

Volumes would be required to discourse intelligently upon all these
forms of trout and fly-fishing for them; so I purpose in this
particular instance to confine myself to one species and one form of
trout and one order of fly-fishing.

The trout referred to is the true brook trout, scientifically alluded
to as _Salvelinus fontinalis_ and commonly called, besides brook trout
(its most popular name), speckled trout, mountain trout, speckled
beauty, spotted trout, etc.

The fly-fishing treated of is that popular form that is most indulged
in by the Eastern trout fly-fisherman--small-stream fishing in the
mountains and wooded level lands that "carries us," as Davy wrote as
far away as 1828, "into the most wild and beautiful scenery of nature
to the clear and lovely streams that gush from the high ranges of
elevated hills."

Above all other styles of fly-fishing, it calls for the most delicate
tackle and the very daintiest hand.

"How delightful," says the author of _Salmonia_, "in the early spring,
after the dull and tedious time of winter, when the frosts disappear
and the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to wander forth by some
clear stream, to see the leaf bursting from the purple bud, to scent
the odors of the bank perfumed by the violet, and enameled, as it
were, with the primrose and the daisy; to wander upon the fresh turf
below the shade of trees, whose bright blossoms are filled with the
music of the bee; and on the surface of the waters to view the gaudy
flies sparkling like animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the bright
and beautiful trout is watching them from below; to hear the
twittering of the water-birds, who, alarmed at your approach, rapidly
hide themselves beneath the flowers and leaves of the water-lily; and,
as the season advances, to find all these objects changed for others
of the same kind, but better and brighter, till the swallow and the
trout contend as it were for the May fly, and till in pursuing your
amusement in the calm and balmy evening you are serenaded by the songs
of the cheerful thrush, performing the offices of paternal love in
thickets ornamented with the rose and woodbine."

The other forms of fly-fishing for trout, the pursuit of larger
specimens of the same species in larger waters, the lakes and ponds
and rivers--all equally inviting by their gentle requirements and the
"beautiful scenery of nature"--deserve special treatment, because, as
in fly-fishing for salmon (_salmo salar_), the very top notch of all
forms of angling, the play, the player, the scenes, and the
accessories are sufficiently different to confound the reader I am
mainly endeavoring to amuse with these particular lines.

Small stream fly-fishing for brook trout belongs in a class just
between fly-fishing for the brook trout of broader waters, the lakes
and ponds, and fly-fishing for salmon in the lordly rivers of Maine
and Canada.

The brook trout is angled for in the spring and summer, principally
with the artificial fly, and by the chivalric Angler only with the
artificial fly, though many greedy fishermen of trifling experience
and wholly deprived of the true spirit of angling--in that they fish
for the fish alone and judge their day and play solely by the size of
their catch--contrive to convince us that the live lure is equally
honorable, notwithstanding that the cruel, clumsy, uncleanly, unfair,
wasteful practice of live-bait trout fishing is condemned by every
truly gentle disciple and practical authority.

Most advocates of live-bait trout fishing, who would have us believe
that their method is entitled to recognition in the same category with
fly-fishing, proudly proclaim that this should be because they "can
catch more fish with the worm or minnow than the Angler can catch with
his fly."

If this reasoning is to settle the debate, if killing and quantity
compose the Angler's axiom, why not resort to still more productive
means--dynamite, or net the stream instead of gently fishing it?

No, the trout fly-fisherman abhors trout bait-fishing for the same
reason the wing shot prefers his appropriate arm to a cannon; the
yachtsman, his gentle craft to a man-o'-war; the horseman, his trained
mount to a locomotive; the archer, his arrow instead of a harpoon; and
so I might go on in similes that would burlesque every form of
recreative amusement in the world.

The brook trout breeds in the autumn, favors eddies, riffles, pools,
and deep spots under the banks of the stream, and near rocks and
fallen trees, and feeds on flies, small fish, worms, and other small
life forms.

Its shape, weight, size, and color are influenced by its food, its
age, its activity, its habitat, and its habits. Its color corresponds
to the color of the water bottom and will change as the water bottom
changes. If removed to a new water, where the bottom color is
different from the bottom color of its first abode--lighter or darker,
as the case may be,--it will gradually grow to a corresponding shade,
blending with its new habitat just as its colors suited the stones
and grasses and earthy materials of its native domain.

In weight, the brook trout ranges up to ten pounds in large waters.
There is a record of one weighing eleven pounds. This specimen was
taken in Northwestern Maine. The species averages threequarters of a
pound to one pound and a half in the streams, and one pound to three
pounds in the lakes and ponds. It occurs between latitude 32-1/2° and
55°, in the lakes and streams of the Atlantic watershed, near the
sources of a few rivers flowing into the Mississippi and the Gulf of
Mexico, and some of the southern affluents of Hudson Bay, its range
being limited by the western foothills of the Alleghanies, extending
about three hundred miles from the coast, except about the Great
Lakes, in the northern tributaries of which it abounds. It also
inhabits the headwaters of the Chattahoochee, in the southern spurs of
the Georgia Alleghanies, and tributaries of the Catawba in North
Carolina and clear waters of the great islands of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence--Anticosti, Cape Breton, Prince Edward, and Newfoundland; and
abounds in New York, Michigan, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maine. Long
Island, Canada, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

My favorite rod for stream trout fishing is a cork-handled,
all-lancewood rod of three or four ounces in weight and eight feet in
length, or a rod of similar length weighing four or five ounces and
made of split bamboo--the best split bamboo of the best workmanship.
The cheap, so-called split bamboo of the dry-goods store bargain (?)
counter, retailed for a price that would not pay for the mere wrapping
of the correct article, is a flimsy, decorative thing, and would
collapse, or, worse still, bend one way and stay that way, if used on
the stream. The fly-rod material must be springy and resiliently so,
and the rod must be constructed so as to permit of this condition.

The reel I favor is a small, narrow, light, all-rubber or narrow
aluminum common-click reel, holding twenty-five yards of the
thinnest-calibered silk, waterproof-enameled line.

My leader is a brown-stained one of silk gut, twelve feet in length.
The leader should be fresh and firm, flexible and fine, not a
dried-up, brittle, unyielding, snappy snarl of the salesman's
discarded sample box that breaks at the mere touch, or releases the
flies at the first cast or parts at the first strike--if by some
miraculous mischance you get this far with it. The leaders, a
half-dozen of them, should be carried, when not in actual use, in a
flat, aluminum, pocket-fitting box between two dampened flannel mats
(though not preserved this way in close season), so as to have them
thoroughly limp from being water soaked, that you may more readily and
more safely adjust them, for break they surely will if handled in a
dry state.

The willow creel, in which the spoil of the day is deposited, should
be, I think, about the size of a small hand-satchel. To this is
fastened a leather strap, with a broad, shoulder-protecting band of
stout canvas. This I sling over the right shoulder, allowing the creel
to hang above the back part of the left hip where it will least
interfere with me during the fight with _fontinalis_.

The landing net I use is a little one of egg shape, made of cane with
no metal whatsoever, and it has a linen mesh about ten inches in width
and eighteen inches in length. The handle is a trifle over one foot
in length. To this I tie one end of a stout but light-weight flexible
and small-calibered cord, or a stretch of small rubber tube, and the
other end of this I tie to a button on my coat under my chin, throwing
the net over my left shoulder to lie on my back until called into
service.

The clothing should be of dark-gray wool of light weight. I wear a
lightly woven gray sweater under my coat when the weather is cool.

I have plenty of pockets in my trouting coat, and I make it a practice
to tie a string to nearly everything I carry in them--shears,
hook-file, knife, match-box, tobacco-pouch, pipe, purse,
field-glasses, fly-book, etc.--so that I will not mislay them
ordinarily, or drop them in the rushing current during some exciting
moment.

The headgear I like is a gray, soft felt hat of medium brim to protect
my eyes in the sun and to sit upon in the shade.

The footwear may consist of waterproof ankle shoes attached to rubber
or canvas trousers, or of a pair of light, close-fitting hip rubber
boots. Some Anglers wear rubber waterproof combined trousers and
stockings and any sort of well-soled shoes. In warm weather, I affect
nothing beyond a pair of old shoes with holes cut in both sides to let
the water run freely in and out, the holes not big enough to admit
sand and pebbles.

The artificial flies are of many hundreds of patterns. I have a
thousand or two, but half a hundred, of sizes four to six for the
lakes and ponds, and six to fourteen for the small streams, are enough
to select from during a season; two dozen are sufficient for a single
trip, half a dozen will do to carry to the stream for a day,--if you
don't lose many by whipping them off or getting them caught in a
tree,--and two are all I use for the cast, though a cast of three
flies is the favorite of many fishermen. I amuse myself by presuming
to have a special list for each month, week, day, and hour, but the
extravagantly erratic notions of the trout forbid my recommending it
to brother rodmen. Trout that show a preference for certain flies one
day may the next day favor entirely different patterns. Sometimes they
will take an imitation of the natural fly upon the water and at other
times, being gorged with the natural insect, will only strike at some
oddly colored concoction of no resemblance to any living thing in
nature; this in play, or in anger, and at other times out of pure
curiosity. An Angler doesn't need a great number of flies--if he knows
just what fly the game is taking. You can't very well determine this
half a hundred miles from the fishing; so you take a variety with you
and experiment. The flies should be of the best make and freshest
quality, tied by a practical hand--some honest maker who is himself an
Angler--not the cheap, dried-up, wall-decorative, bastard butterflies
of the ladies' dry-goods shop, that hybrid mess of gaudy waste
ribbon-silk and barnyard feather, the swindling output of the
catch-penny shopman whose sweat help do not know--upon my word--the
name or the purpose of the thing they make.

Any six of the following list will kill well enough for a single day's
pleasant fishing in any water at any time during the legal season:
Dark Coachman, Gray and Green Palmer, Ginger Palmer, Alder, Scarlet
Ibis, Abbey, Imbrie, Professor, Conroy, Reuben Wood, March Brown,
Orvis, White Miller, Coachman. Royal Coachman, Codun, Brown and Red
Palmer, Brown Hen, Queen of the Water, King of the Water. Squires,
Black Gnat, Grizzly King, Quaker.

I use, as a rule, dark colors in clear water, and on bright days and
early in the season; lighter shades in dull water and on dark days, in
the evening, and as the season grows warmer; but many Anglers
philosophize just the reverse--use light colors for early season
fishing and somber hues for midsummer play--hence the endless
arguments and experiments described as one of the charms of the craft.

I prefer, as I have said, two flies on the leader, and my favorite of
favorites for all times and all places is a cast made up of gnat-size
pattern of dark-gray wing and pale-blue body, and another of a
peculiar drab-cream shade.

In throwing or casting the fly I never "whip" or "flail" the rod, and
I never cast with a long line when a short one will answer the
purpose. Distance alone may count in a fly-casting contest, but in the
wild stream a careful short cast is more effective than a clumsy long
one.

I angle with my shadow behind me, and in casting the flies endeavor to
allow only the flies to touch the water. The line frightens the game,
and if a trout should take a fly on a loose, wavy line, he will not
hook himself and he will blow the fly from his mouth before the Angler
is able to hook him.

In learning to cast the fly, the young Angler should start with the
leader alone, as I believe all fly-fishing is begun by old and young,
and as he lifts the flies from the water after the forward cast to
make the backward motion he should simultaneously draw from the reel a
half-yard of line and allow time for the flies to complete the whole
circuit back of him. In fly-fishing the cast is not made from the
reel as in bait-casting; the line is drawn from the reel a half-yard
at a time with the left hand. The line must fully straighten itself
behind the Angler ere it can be sent out straight before him. The
flies and at most only a little part of the leader should fall lightly
upon the surface--as we imagine two insects, entangled in a delicate
cobweb, might fall from a tree branch--and be drawn smartly but gently
in little jerks a second or two in imitation of two tiny live-winged
bugs fluttering in the water; and then, as the Angler steps slowly,
firmly, but silently and softly in the current downstream, he should
repeat the lifting of the flies, the drawing off of more line from the
reel, and the circling backward cast that takes up the slack and gives
the line its forward force. Thus he should continue, deftly placing
the lure in every likely spot ahead of him in the center of the brook
and along its moss-lined, flower-decked, rock-bound or grass-fringed
banks.

The Angler is careful not to let the trout see him, see his shadow, or
see the rod, and not to let this wisest, most watchful species of all
the finny tribes hear him or feel the vibration of his body.

In hooking the trout the Angler strikes the second the fish
strikes--not by a violent arm movement, but by a mere instantaneous
nervous backward twist of the wrist, as one would instinctively draw
up his hand from the pierce of a needle point. Many trout are hooked
the instant the leader is lifted for a new cast, and many hook
themselves without the slightest effort on the part of the Angler.

When the fish is hooked he should not be flaunted in the air, as the
boy fisher yanks his pond perch. The prize should be handled as if he
were but slightly secured, his head should be kept under water, the
line kept gently taut, and the fish softly led out of noisy water and
away from stones, long grass, submerged tree branches or logs.

If the catch is heavy enough to draw the line from the reel it is
allowed to do so, but the line should be kept taut and reeled in the
second he hesitates. There need be no hurry.

After a little while the game's rushes will cease; then it should be
reeled in, care being taken not to arouse it again by the contact of a
weed or stone.

The tip of the rod is now raised over the head and back of the Angler
until the butt points downward; then, if the fish has been reeled in
near enough, it is secured in the landing net, tail first, and
carefully slid into the creel through the little square opening for
this purpose in the lid.

If you, reader mine, should some day get as far as this glorious part
of the play, and the fish should be a small one, be satisfied; the
true Angler is ever of a contented heart; if the fish should be too
small, set it free--the true Angler is always humane and generous; if
it should prove fit to feed upon, do not subject it to unnecessary
suffering--skillfully kill it outright at once; the true Angler is
manly and merciful.

And, and--good luck to you, brother.

CHAPTER V

WALTON'S WAY

"More than half the intense enjoyment of fly-fishing is derived from
the beautiful surroundings."--CHARLES F. ORVIS.

A clause in a recent tariff bill prohibited the importation of some of
the favorite artificial flies of the Angler and likewise prohibited
the importation of the materials used in making these flies,
particularly feathers and skins of the valuable song birds whose
insect-eating prevents the destruction of the trees and other foliage
absolutely necessary to the preservation of the planet upon which man
lives.

This clause was fathered by the wise and welcome bird-protecting
institutions known as the Audubon Societies, and was intended to stop
the infamous traffic in wild birds for millinery purposes, which, if
not reformed, means the utter extermination of the world's feathered
friends.

The feathers and skins imported annually for artificial flies were to
come under the same prohibition as millinery feathers.

England has a law prohibiting the importation of certain plumage, but
specific exception is made for the materials used in fly-making.

There was a foolish opposition to this clause on the part of a few
professional fly tiers, some of the fly dealers, and a lot of
fishermen, and these men and women were loud in their declaration that
the Angler is also opposed to the clause, which, if allowed, they
think would injure the business of the professional fly maker, fly
dealer, _et al._

Now the truth is: No Angler was opposed to the clause, and the claim
that the protection of valuable tree-saving birds would hurt trade of
any sort is absurd. The same sort of foolish objection was made to the
introduction of the sewing-machine--it was said it would prevent a lot
of hand-sewing workmen from making a living. In a few years man will
laugh at this silly and selfish individual cry against bird-protection
with the same ridiculous spirit with which he now laughs at the old
idiotic objection to the sewing-machine.

A writer in the New York _Sun_ says: "The first effect of prohibiting
the importation of the feathers for flies will be to drive many back
to bait-fishing. An Angler using bait should take ten trout for every
one he could kill with a fly. The Government, the States, and clubs
are spending large sums for the stocking of streams with trout. The
expenditure would scarcely be justified if there is to be bait-fishing
in these streams--they would soon be fished out. Thousands who
formerly used bait have taken up fly-fishing because it is better
sport."

What does this writer mean by the word "many"--the "many" he thinks
that will be driven back to bait fishing as the effect of the
prohibition of the importation of the feathers for flies? Many what?
Not Anglers, by any means, because the Angler would rather merely try
to catch his trout with an artificial fly made from a feather duster
than to be assured of catching the game with a worm or minnow or
salmon egg. The "many" refers to fishermen, or professional fly tiers,
not Anglers.

The Angler and the ordinary fisherman are as far separated in
character and nature as the hummingbird and the buzzard are separated
in life and lesson.

The real opposer to bird-protection in this objection to the clause
prohibiting the importation of bird feathers and skins is the
commercial fellow, and there is no commercial side to angling.

The Angler is a student as well as a lover of nature, and he knows
that without the insect-eating birds there can be no trees, that
without trees there can be no waters, that without waters there can be
no fishes, and that without fishes there can be no fishing. The stupid
fisherman can't surmount this, and the commercial fly tier, whose
business alone teaches him enough of the angling art to be able to
figure this natural science, thinks too much of his money creel to
admit it. This pretended ignorance is called good business instinct,
and the Angler doesn't object to men minding their own business, but
when business instinct runs wild and evokes the effrontery to imply
that the Angler, a non-commercial being, is opposed to the prohibition
of earth-valuable bird extermination, business instinct is going a
little too far with its money-mad method.

The Angler does not condemn the use of correct tackle; he's a believer
in it, and just as he is sincere in his advocacy of proper tackle and
in his immaculate use of proper tackle, so is he sincere in his
profound belief in correct methods in fishing.

The fisherman--the fellow who judges his day by the number of fishes
he kills in any manner regardless of season and size--may resort to
dynamite, and he may not be in sympathy with any of the chivalric
means, manners, and methods of any of the worldly matters, but the
Angler is not of this stamp.

Izaak Walton, the father of fishing, never posed for his portrait with
half a hundred dead fishes tied to his body. Ferns, feathered friends,
flowers, fair skies, fine fishing tackle, _and_ fishes embellished his
pictures.

The fish, to the Angler, is only one feature--no doubt the main
feature--of his favorite pastime, and the killing of the fish is not a
pleasant part of his pursuit; the death of the game is, to the Angler,
a sad incident, however happy the fisherman may be over the slaughter
of his greedy mess, and the Angler, therefore, could not possibly
derive the delights of his angling at the sacrifice of the lordly
winged creatures he so repeatedly thanks his Master for.

Who ever read an Angler's story without the song birds in it? The
expression "gentle art" is applied to angling and the Angler. Who ever
heard of the gentle art of fishing! And angling is a _gentle_ art; so,
to practice it, one must be gentle.

The Angler will not resort to fishing with live bait if the few
European artificial flies are excluded from his lures, because he can
catch all the fishes his _gentle_ art _entitles_ him to with the flies
of home make.

The artificial flies of England, Scotland, and Ireland are lovely
creations of practical as well as beautiful design, and the Angler
adores them, but, since his _gentle_ creel can be filled without them,
he'll not insist on their importation if it tends in the slightest
manner toward the extermination of the very things that make possible
the gentle art of angling--the birds and the trees, without which the
fishes themselves could not survive.

The world is not composed entirely of fishermen--the earth itself
should not be sacrificed for a few against the multitude--and the
Angler, the fisherman of quality, is wise enough to appreciate this;
his individual pastime is not as important as the general welfare of
the masses, and it will be said that the fisherman, who estimates
quantity over quality, is far less entitled to consideration.

Angling is a pastime of a craft; the birds, the trees, and the waters
are necessities of a planet and its people.

Fishing for the market--a distinct method from that of the Angler and
the common fisherman who fishes for the mere sake of killing and
counting--is not concerned in this argument, and may be dismissed with
a brief word of commendation. Legitimately practiced, discriminately
carried on according to the law of man and nature, it is even more
admirable than angling and far more honorable than the wasteful
pursuit of the vulgar amateur fisherman. Our Saviour sanctioned net
fishing; chose simple fishermen for his disciples--St. Andrew, St.
Peter, St. James, and St. John.

The expression, "fly fisherman," may refer to the fisherman or the
Angler, for there are lots of fly fishermen as well as mere fishermen
who are not Anglers, for the reason that fly-fishing, indulged in by a
greedy hand, can permit of ungentle fish-catching the same as
bait-fishing. Both methods are equally destructive if not followed
with strict rules of angling, and all that need be said to properly
define angling is that it is the poetry--the art and refinement--of
fishing. The common fisherman is simply a fish-basket filler; the
Angler fills his soul, not the creel.

CHAPTER VI

THE WANTON WAY

"There's an Angler's law, and a court or legal law. The fisherman who
adheres to the Angler's law can't break the court law."--SETH
FIELDING.

Gentility in the limit of the catch and giving the fish its sporting
chance on light tackle constitute the ethical soul of angling. The
fisherman who stops fishing when he has a few specimens is angling;
he's an Angler. The fisherman who fishes with no limit in his catch is
merely fishing; he's a fisherman, not an Angler.

Any picture of a few fishes may illustrate the catch of the Angler,
and the photograph on Frontispiece shows the catch of the worst type
of fisherman--the wanton fish exterminator who, ignoring the Angler's
gentle law, takes his greedy mess because it is according to the
so-called legal law.

Dr. William T. Hornaday, author of _Wild Life Conservation_, _The
American Natural History_, _Our Vanishing Wild Life_, etc., and
director of the New York Zoölogical Park, has sent me the photograph
of the greedyman's catch--made near Spokane, Washington--with the
following notes:

"The great trouble [in the matter of wasteful fish-catching] is not so
much with the people who catch fish as with the brutally destructive
laws that permit fishermen to catch four or five times as many fish as
they should. There are a great many sportsmen who sincerely believe
that it is all right to take all the fish and game of all kinds that
the law allows. Whenever any destruction is waged on that basis I
always charge it to the abominably liberal laws that in many cases
seemed framed to promote destruction. Ninety-nine per cent. of the
streams of this country very soon will be so nearly destitute of fish
that fishing will become a lost art. In the Rocky Mountains the
overfishing abuse is particularly vicious and destructive because in
those cold streams the fish mature slowly, their food is very scarce
and dear, and the fish are so hungry that they are easily caught. It
is an easy matter to completely fish out a mountain stream in the
Rocky Mountain region or in the Pacific States. In the State of
Wyoming some very aggravated cases of wanton fish destruction by
indifferent rod and line fishermen have lately been brought to my
attention."

Dr. Hornaday is an Angler, and his views and practices are endorsed by
all Anglers. His great book on wild life conservation is brimful of
practical detail and should be in the library of all who are
interested in the preservation of our fishes, birds, and quadruped
game. Here is a sample of the Doctor's vigorous style in his admirable
campaign against the exterminator:

"A few years ago, certain interests in Pennsylvania raised a great
public outcry against the alleged awful destruction of fish in the
streams of Pennsylvania by herons.... A little later on, however, the
game commissioners found that the herons remaining in Pennsylvania
were far too few to constitute a pest to fish life, and furthermore,
the millinery interests appeared to be behind the movement. Under the
new law the milliners were enabled to reopen in Pennsylvania the sale
of aigrettes, because those feathers came from members of the
unprotected Heron Family! It required a tremendous State campaign to
restore protection to the herons and bar out the aigrettes; but it was
accomplished in 1912. Hereafter, let no man for one moment be deceived
by the claim that the very few-and-far-between herons, bitterns, and
kingfishers that now remain in the United States, anywhere, are such a
menace to fish life that those birds are a pest and deserve to be
shot. The inland streams of the United States and Canada lack fishes
because they have been outrageously overfished,--wastefully, wickedly
depleted, without sense or reason, by men who scorn the idea of
conservation. In Orleans County, New York, a case was reported to me
of a farmer who dynamited the waters of his own creek, in spawning
time!"

The Angler angles according to his own humanely conservative law. The
greedy fisherman fishes according to court or so-called legal law,
good or bad, and he always breaks the Angler's law and very often the
court's law.

In viewing Dr. Hornaday's Spokane photograph note the bait-casting
reel on the fly-casting rod--the rig of a clumsy as well as greedy
fisherman. The mess of trout shown is one that no Angler would ever
make and one that any gentleman would be ashamed of--"three times too
many fish for one rod," as Dr. Hornaday says, "another line of
extermination according to law." Of course, the Doctor means the
fisherman's law or the court's law, not the Angler's law.

CHAPTER VII

FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT

"The variety of rivers require different ways of angling."--IZAAK
WALTON, _The Compleat Angler_.

The art of catching fish with artificial lures in imitation of natural
insects is the most chivalric of all methods of angling.

Fish, particularly trout, often hook themselves when they seize the
fly of a fisherman using a pliant rod that will yield and spring
freely. As the game strikes, the Angler strikes, hooking the fish
swiftly but delicately by a simple turn of the wrist. The trout is not
flaunted up in the air by force, as some coarse perch fishermen lift
their catch. The trout fisher does not use his arm at all in hooking a
trout beyond aiding the hand in holding the rod for the wrist to do
the work. A practiced troutman can secure his fish by moving his hand
five inches--a little backward nervous twist of the wrist.

Trout often snap a fly and spit it out so quickly that the tyro does
not have a chance to strike and hook the prize. At other times they
take hold more slowly, and afford the beginner more opportunity to
hook them, and, as I have said, they very often hook themselves.

The beginner will have some trouble in overcoming the excitement or
"trout fever" that always accompanies the trout's rise and strike, but
experience will gradually make him more calm and active at this
important moment. The tyro trout fisher is often more frightened at
the rise of the trout than he would be at the flush of a noisy grouse
or the springing of a surprised deer.

When you have hooked the fish, always handle him as if he were but
lightly secured. Do not attempt to lift him out or yank him up to you.
Keep the line gently taut, and softly lead the prize out of rough
water or away from stones, grasses, logs, or tree branches. Do not let
him come to the surface until he is pretty well exhausted and you are
about to put him in the landing-net. If he is a large fish, tow him
ashore if the water edge will permit. Where there are overhanging
banks this cannot be done. Do not be in a hurry to get him out of the
water. Be calm and work carefully.

If the fish is large enough to overcome the reel click and run off the
line, let him do so, but check him and guide him according to any
obstruction there may be.

When he has rushed here and there for some little time with his mouth
open and with a constant check--the line should always be taut--he
will become tired, and when he is tired he will not rush. Then softly
reel him in, being careful not to let him come in contact with a stone
or weed, which is sure to arouse him again. Reel him up quickly,
without making a splashing swoop, and he will soon grace your creel.

Several persons have expressed an objection to a list of flies I once
named, saying a good Angler might kill just as many trout on quarter
the number.

Any Angler can take even less than one quarter of the enumerated list
and catch fully as many brook trout as one who might use all of the
flies mentioned--if he can pick out the ones the trout are rising to
without trying them all until he discovers the killing ones. A chef
might please his master with one or two of the forty courses billed,
if he knew what the man wanted.

Sometimes an Angler can judge the appropriate fly to use by observing
nature in seeing trout rise to the live fly; but, there are times when
trout are not rising, times when they are tired of the fly upon the
water, and times when the real fly is not on the wing. Then the Angler
is expected to take matters in his own hands and whip about quietly
until he discovers the proper patterns. It is better to try for the
right flies with a list of twenty-nine than whip over a list of a
thousand or more. I have learned from experience that trout, like
human beings, are in love with a variety of foods at different times.
Their tastes change with the months, the weeks, the days, the hours,
and, under certain conditions which I will presently explain, the
minutes.

"... fish will not bite constantly, nor every day. They have
peculiar, unexplainable moods that continuing favoring conditions of
water, wind, and weather cannot control" (Eugene McCarthy, _Familiar
Fish_).

When I mention twenty-nine different patterns as being seasonable at a
stated period, I do not mean to say that the trout will rise to them
all and at any time and under all conditions. In the first place, the
person using them might be a tyro unfamiliar with the gentle art, the
streams might be dried up, there might be an earthquake, the flies
might be too large, too coarse, and for that matter a thousand other
conditions might interfere. I fish dozens of streams in different
localities several times every month during the legal season, and I
have been a fond Angler--if not a skillful one--since my tenth
birthday. Experience on the streams, a true love for nature, and a
careful attention to my notebook enable me to separate the artificial
flies into monthly lists. No man can class them into weekly or daily
lots.

"When a fly is said to be in season it does not follow that it is
abroad on every day of its existence" (Alfred Ronalds).

The Eastern gentleman who said if he could have but one fly he would
take a yellow one, is probably a good Angler, for a yellow fly is a
fair choice. If I could have but one fly I should take a--ah! I cannot
name its color; 'tis the quaker, a cream, buff, grayish, honey-yellow
shade.

Beaverkill, Seth Green, Ashey Montreal, Dun. Wickham's Fancy, August
Brown are killing patterns in the Pennsylvania streams.

Trout change in their tastes by the month, week, day, hour, and
minute. There are flies among the list given for this or that month
that they will not rise to to-day or perhaps to-morrow, but surely
there are some among the list that will please them, and you have to
discover those particular flies, and so, as I have said before, 'tis
better to search among twenty-nine than twenty-nine hundred.

In July of a certain season I waded a stream in Pennsylvania and had
these flies with me: Quaker. Oak, Codun, Reuben Wood, White Miller,
Yellow Sallie, Hare's Ear, Iron Dun, Brown Palmer, Cahill, and a few
others. The first day I killed eighteen trout in fishing fifty yards
in a small stream running partly through a large open field and partly
through bushes, fishing from the left bank. Twelve were taken on a
brown palmer, four on a dark-gray midge, and two on a tiny
yellow-gold-brown fly. I fished three hours, in which time I received
exactly two hundred and fifteen strikes; eighteen, as I have said,
proved killing. I fished stealthily up and down the stream, hiding
here and there and making the most difficult of casts at all times. I
went up and down the little stream a half dozen times, never going
into the wood, but merely fishing from where the stream came out of
the wood to where it hid itself again beyond the field. Part of the
water I fished, as I say, was in underbush, but I did not leave the
field.

Now I am going to show you how the tastes of trout varied by minutes,
in two instances at least, and I desire you to know every little
detail. To well convince you that the casts I made were difficult, I
will say that my line became fastened in twigs, leaves, and bushes
every other toss. I had to put the flies through little openings no
larger than the creel head and take chances of getting the leader
caught while on the way, and after it was there and on its return. I
sometimes whipped twenty times at a little pool before I reached it.
There were logs, branches, mosses, cresses, leaves, and grasses to
avoid. The water in parts was swift and still, narrow, shallow, and
deep, sometimes being four feet wide and three feet deep, and then ten
feet wide and three inches deep; sometimes running smartly over bright
grasses or pebbles and light in color, and in other places lying dark
and still in pools made by logs and deep holes.

A tyro would have fished the ground in ten minutes and caught
nothing; some Anglers would have gone over it once in twenty-five
minutes and taken a half-dozen fish. I had the day to myself; I had
nowhere else to go; I was out for sport, recreation, and study,--not
fish, for I am a lover of nature in general,--and so I took three
hours at the play, and fished and observed inch by inch like a mink,
the king of trouters.

I say I had two hundred and fifteen strikes, out of which I killed
eighteen trout, and you are surprised. You think you could have done
better, much better, but I know you could not--you could not have done
as well as I did and I wish that I could put you to a test. I have
seen a _fontinalis_ rise to a small coachman twenty-six times,
snapping apparently at the feather each time, but never allowing
himself to be hooked nor hooking himself. He was playing. He was a
young trout, but an educated one, and well knew there was no danger if
he kept his wits about him. I have witnesses to this performance who
will substantiate my story, and I can easily further prove the
truthfulness of the statement by taking you to a stream where a
similar performance may be enacted. And I have seen an uneducated
trout rise and snap at a fly without taking it. The first one rose in
play, this one in curiosity--and there are trout that will rise in
anger. All of them may know the bait is not food. It is a mistake to
think that all brook trout will spurt from a fly the very second they
discover it is not real food, as it is an error to believe that all
brook trout will take the fly when they know it is the living thing.
All trout are not alike; they vary in their tastes and antics as they
do in color and size. Mind you, I speak only of one species here--the
true brook trout, _Salvelinus fontinalis_, and thus the material
should be interesting.

[Illustration: AN UNUSUAL WAY OF TAKING THE FLY]

The day I took my creel of eighteen was a fair one; we had rain the
day before; the water was clear and the stream was in ordinary
condition. The brown hackle which killed twelve of the eighteen was on
a No. 8 hook; the other two flies were tied on No. 16, as the hackle
should have been, for the fish were small and the stream was in a
small-fly condition and quite right for the daintiest leaders and the
finest midges. But the hackle seemed to please the trout; all sizes
appeared to jump at it. I hooked many that were not over three inches
long! Several times when taking my flies from the water for a new
cast, I lifted a poor little trout up in the air back of me, like the
scurvy fisherman who makes a practice of landing all his fish by
yanking them out. So you see it pays to be patient on the stream and
try all sorts of gentle tricks with _fontinalis_. You must not hurry;
you must not be coarse; you must not be careless and untidy with your
fly-book. Take your time, fish slowly, surely, and delicately. Be not
weary of the play: banish the thought of discouragement, keep at the
sport for sport alone, and study as you angle.

A little trout will rise to a fly he has missed one or more times; a
large trout will seldom do so. When you miss a big trout do not give
him back the fly for ten minutes, and then if you miss him again,
change the pattern, wait a little while, and he is once more ready for
the rise--if the new fly suits him.

I never raised a trout on the scarlet ibis fly. I believe it is a poor
color on the well-fished waters, just as I believe that all flies are
killing on wild streams. New trout will take old flies; old trout love
new ones and many old ones. Personally I like the sober colors in
flies for all seasons on all water, though I well appreciate the old
rule: "When the day is bright and where the water is clear, small
flies and plain colors; in deep and dull waters and on dark days and
in the evening the brighter and larger ones." Trout do not in all
cases show their liking to flies in accordance with any condition of
weather or water, though as a rule it is advisable to use lighter
colors when the day and water are dull, which is not saying, however,
that fish will not rise to loud flies on bright days or sober flies in
dull weather, for the tastes of trout vary like the tastes of other
living things, and nothing can equal them in erraticness when
fly-feeding.

You must give _fontinalis_ sport, for he very often strikes for play
more than food, and, like every other living thing, loves a choice of
variety.

There is an old story that if the Angler's book has a pattern of fly
in exact imitation of the real fly upon the trout water, he has but to
join it as the stretcher to fill his creel. Ogden tells us in so many
words: "Give not the trout an exact imitation of the real fly upon the
water, for your artificial fly will then be one in a thousand.
Something startling will please them better--loud gold body,
strange-colored wings--and an odd fellow may take it for sport if
nothing else."

While this is a good bit of advice, it does not seem right to me to
send it forth in such a sweeping manner. The question of whether we
should imitate nature in general fly building has long been in vogue.
Some say we should do so, and others that it does not matter. Both are
correct--there are times when we should copy the living flies, and
times when we should use those artificial things that have no
resemblance to nature's insects. I have come upon a water where the
trout were rising to the small dusky miller, and have, by putting on
the artificial fly of this order, taken a dozen beauties in good play.
It was because I arrived just in time; the trout were not tired of
their course. Perhaps twenty minutes later they would not have done
more than eyed my cast. In that case, even if the water were covered
with a species of the real fly, it would have been better to have
offered something different. Copy nature if the fish be devouring--not
alone because the fly is on the water; they may be tired of it.
Sometimes there are flies being taken that are not seen by the Angler,
for trout can snap a fly upon the wing. Fly-fishing is not an easy
pursuit; 'tis a real science. Rules are good, but we must not fail to
suit the rules to conditions.

No; you are not supposed to use the entire list, for to-day the trout
may not favor over two or three of them; to-morrow he may take six of
them--all different from those he may show a liking for to-day. It is
all very well for an Angler to take but three dozen coachmen and brown
and gray hackle for the Western trout, or any trout that is not
educated up to the standard of the trout that is fished for
incessantly, but I should not like to make a month's trouting trip and
take along only three kinds of flies, even if I had dozens of each of
the three and if my favorite quaker were one of the trio, no matter
where the stream--East. West, North, or South.

Some days after my catch of eighteen I visited the field again and
fished from the point where the stream entered the wood down to a
beautiful little waterfall. I took twenty-one of fair size--one on a
yellow Sallie, one on an oak fly, four on an Esquimaux dun, five on a
hare's ear, and nine on the quaker. This day I had ninety-three
rises--not as many as on the day I took the eighteen and had two
hundred and fifteen rises. The day was dark, the water very clear and
shallow, and there had been no rain for ten days.

This was the occasion of learning more about striking the Eastern
brook trout than I had ever before enjoyed. The old rule is to strike
on the second of the rise, and, while I do not think this electric
quickness should be practiced in all cases and under all conditions. I
found it was the rule this day, especially in the one deep pool I
found. In other places--one in particular, where I saw six of my catch
make every move in taking the flies--I found it necessary to depart
from the old rule and strike not upon the second of the rise. I very
often gave wrist too quickly. It all goes to prove that rules are not
to be exercised at all times and under all conditions. We must make
allowances. I came upon one quiet piece of water that was as clear and
still as glass; I could see every detail of the pebbles at the bottom.
Eight pretty trout were in this bed of silent water, resting without a
perceptible movement--not even that delicate wave of the tail so
common with the trout in his balancing in running water. They did not
see me; a bush hid my form. When my slender rod tip moved over the
water and the leader with the flies went down gently upon the surface,
the trout thought (all animals think) the wind had stirred the frail
branch of an adjacent tree and swept into the water upon a cobweb
three insects for their feeding. Four rushed for the deceit and two
were hooked quietly and quickly. I landed them and went away to return
to the same spot a half-hour later. Seven trout were there this time.
I flailed gently over them, but received no rushing rise; one little
fellow came up deliberately, broke water two inches behind the little
dun, and then returned to his old position. Then two others did
precisely the same as their companion had done, excepting one that
chose the oak fly for his inspection. Then they sank themselves, and a
fourth gamester spurted up to the dun and took it in his mouth much as
a sunfish would suck in a bit of worm. I struck him, and he made a
splash that nearly drove a near-by-perched catbird into hysterics, and
sent the other trout up, down, and across the stream like so many
black streaks of lightning. Now, had I cast at these fish from above
or below and not just over them, where I saw every move they made, I
should have given them wrist on the second of their rise--as I did in
the case of the first two that made the first rush--and lost any
chance of success.

No, I say, we must not always follow rules regardless of conditions.
We must not judge all trout alike, even if they be of one species.
Men, though of one race, are not all alike in their habits any more
than they are in their sizes and colors.

I found in some parts of the stream that as long as I changed the
flies I had rises; in other parts no trout took the fly, no matter how
I worked it. Perhaps there were no fish hereabout; perhaps they saw
me; perhaps they were not hungry, and perhaps there were hundreds and
thousands of other reasons why they were not to be taken in these
certain places.

No man can strictly follow rules in all cases and take trout upon
every occasion of his trials. Conditions govern, and must be
studied--conditions, conditions.

CHAPTER VIII

THE ANGLER'S PRAYER--SAVE THE WOODS AND WATERS

"Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be
sustained by perpetual neglect of other things. And it is not by any
means certain that a man's business is the most important thing he has
to do."

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

Commerce or civilization or whatever you like to call modern man's
accumulation of money wealth at the sacrifice of nature is perpetrated
with no greater force than in the wanton waste of our forests--the
trees given by God to the people and stolen from the people by
individuals. It seems all right for man to prudently use our forests
in the making of homes and other practical things of actual necessity,
but it is a downright shame that the people allow greedy men to
destroy the trees for the mere sake of adding dollars to the
destroyers' already well-filled purses. And these selfish men even
deprive the people of their breathing-air, drinking-water, and fish
food. Springs, ponds, and brooks are dried up by the loss of
sheltering foliage. Lakes and rivers are ruined by the commercial
gentry's waste acid, dye, oil, gas, etc., and the very air we breathe
is poisoned by the fumes of the money-makers' chimneys.

The railroads cut down the people's trees to make ties, and they burn
the old ties instead of consuming them for steam power or giving them
back to the people for fuel or fence posts, etc. The mill owner burns
as rubbish the sawdust and slabs instead of burying the sawdust and
allowing it to turn into loam that would enrich the soil and thereby
propagate vegetable food matter and the very tree life the millman
wastes. He is not only destroying the material on hand but he is doing
his best to prevent the growth of future material. Slabs should not be
burned as waste matter; they are good fuel and good material for the
farmer, _et al._

Nothing should be burned as waste matter; nature tells us to bury, not
burn. Fire destroys not alone the valuable ingredient it consumes to
make itself, but burns up the earth's vital moisture--the life-giving
oxygen we breathe, without which no animate thing could survive.

Before fresh timber is cut for market-cornering purposes, the millmen
should be compelled to use up the vast rafts of trees they have
allowed to float upon river banks, there to rot while the choppers
continue their attack on new trees, half of which will go to waste
with the lumberman's already-decaying market-cornering mess in the
flooded valley.

Anyone may personally witness this wanton waste if so inclined: Take a
ride on the railroad between Portland, Oregon, and Tacoma, Washington,
and note the conditions _en route_; or glance out of the car window as
you ride through the timberland district in the Southern
states--Alabama, Georgia, etc.

Oregon and Washington are bragging about what the native biped
conceitedly calls enterprise, western spirit, progress, prosperity,
etc. Poor fools! They imagine the so-called prosperity is due to the
enterprise or spirit of themselves, while any nature student could
tell them that the business success of any territory is directly due
to that territory's material that is marketed, and that as soon as the
marketable material is used up the so-called enterprise, energy,
spirit, etc., of the ego-marketman go up with it.

In Michigan (Bay City) thirty-five years ago the wasters used to boast
that Bay City was going to outrival New York City in size, intellect,
money wealth, social standing, etc., in a few years. All this on a
little timber they were cutting and selling. It was remarked by a
nature student that the success of their ambition depended upon the
pine trees they were gradually consuming--ruthlessly cutting down to
extermination--and a practical man suggested that they plant and
propagate as well as cut and consume. Also it was hinted that the
lumber they made out of the trees was the only thing they had to make
possible the social downfall of New York.

"Oh, by no means," they said; "we have enterprise and spirit; that's
what counts."

But, the count was a failure--the trees giving out. Northern Michigan
was turned into a sugar-beet farm, and most of the unfortunates who
counted on making Bay City outrival New York are now of the very dust
that nurtures the present-day material that their offspring exists
upon.

The Michigan enterprise, spirit, etc., is now transferred to the few
other timberland States, and the natives of to-day, the early day of
plenty, are just like the old conceited Michiganders--they foolishly
imagine the financial success of their territory is due to so-called
personal energy, pride, enterprise, progress, etc., on the part of
themselves, when any naturalist knows that their prosperity is
directly due to God's bountifulness--the abundance of marketable
material--not man's effort or egotism.

When Oregon and Washington have lumbered all their timber the
"enterprising" natives will not have rivaled New York socially or
financially any more than the Michigander has accomplished this end;
Oregon and Washington, without timber, like Michigan, will stay just
where they are--if lucky enough not to go lower down in the social and
financial standard--when their marketable material is exhausted.

Climate is a mere matter of pure air. What's the good in climate if
it's smoked and burned? Any clean climate, hot or cold, is better than
any soiled climate, hot or cold.

Marketable material, pure air, and pure water are the three big
concerns of life; man isn't worthy of being included in the list of
important things because he destroys these three mighty essentials.
Material makes man more than man makes material.

Man's energy and egotism couldn't get a footing without marketable
material. What the world needs is less of vain man and more plain
market stuff.

Save the woods and waters.

CHAPTER IX

TROUT AND TROUTING

"A day with not too bright a beam;
A warm, but not a scorching, sun."
--CHARLES COTTON.

Where can I enjoy trout fishing amid good scenery and good cheer
without its necessitating a lengthy absence from the city? That is a
question which frequently rises in the mind of the toilers in the busy
centers of the East, and it is one becoming daily more difficult to
answer. Yet there are still nearby trout streams where a creel of from
fifteen to fifty, or even more, in favorable weather, might be made.
One such locality, which for years local sportsmen have proven, lies
within a four hours' ride of either Philadelphia or New York. All that
is necessary is to take the railroad, which conveys you to Cresco, in
Monroe County, Pa., and a ride or drive of five miles through the
Pocono Mountains will land you in the little village of Canadensis, in
the valley of the Brodhead; and within the radius of a few miles on
either side fully a dozen other unposted streams ripple along in their
natural state, not boarded, bridged, dammed, or fenced by the hand of
man, thanks to the naturally uncultivatable condition of the greater
part of this paradise for trout fishers. The villagers of Canadensis
do their trading and receive their mail at Cresco, and it is an easy
matter to obtain excellent food and lodgings for a dollar a day at one
of the many farmhouses dotting here and there the valleys, and a seat
when needful in one of the several private conveyances running every
day between the two villages.

The open season for trout in Pennsylvania is from April 15th until
July 15th, and there appears to be no particularly favored period
during these three months, for the trout here afford sport equally
well at all times, though they greatly vary in their tastes for the
fly.

If the angler goes there in the early part of the open season, when
the weather is cold, he should engage a room and take his meals at the
farmhouse selected; but if the trip is made in the early part of June
or any time after that, during the open season, camp life may be
enjoyed with great comfort.

Two favorite waters within walking distance from any of the farmhouses
in Canadensis are Stony Run and the Buckhill. The great Brodhead, a
famous old water in the days of Thaddeus Norris, and noted then and
now for its big trout, flows in the valley proper, within a stone's
throw of the farmhouse at which I engaged quarters. Spruce Cabin Run,
a mile distant, is a charming stream, but the trout here are not very
large beyond the deep pools at the foot of Spruce Falls and in the
water flowing through Turner's fields and woods above the falls.

Any of these streams will afford plenty of sport, but if one wishes to
visit a still more wild, romantic, and beautiful trout water, he has
only to walk a little farther or take a buckboard wagon and ride to
the mighty Bushkill, a stream that must not be confounded with the
Buckhill, which lies in an opposite direction from Canadensis.

The Bushkill is the wildest stream in the region, and is fished less
than any of the others named, one reason being that there are plenty
of trout in the waters of Canadensis which can be fished without the
Angler going so far. For those who like to camp, the Bushkill is the
proper locality. I spent a day there with friends one season, and we
caught in less than two hours, in the liveliest possible manner, all
the trout five of us could eat throughout the day, and four dozen
extra large ones which we took home to send to friends in the city.

"The trout in the Bushkill," remarked one of my companions, "are so
wild that they're tame"--an expression based upon the greediness and
utter disregard of the enemy with which _fontinalis_, in his
unfamiliarity with man, took the fly. I remember having a number of
rises within two feet of my legs as I was taking in my line for a
front toss.

I know men who have many times traveled a thousand miles from New York
on an angling trip to different famous waters who have not found
either the sport or the scenery to be enjoyed on the Bushkill.

The lower Brodhead below the point at which this stream and Spruce
Cabin Run come together is very beautiful. It is owned by a farmer who
lives on its banks, and who has never been known to refuse Anglers
permission to fish there when they asked for the privilege.

There are four natural features in the scenery about Canadensis that
are especially prized by the countrymen there--the Sand Spring,
Buckhill Falls, Spruce Cabin Falls, and the Bushkill Falls.

The Sand Spring is so called because grains of brilliant sand spring
up with the water. This sand resembles a mixture of gold and silver
dust; it forms in little clouds just under the water's bubble and then
settles down to form and rise again and again. This effect, with the
rich colors of wild pink roses, tiny yellow watercups, blue lilies,
and three shades of green in the cresses and deer tongue that grow all
about, produces a pretty picture. The spring is not over a foot in
diameter, but the sand edges and the pool cover several feet. In
drinking the water, strange to say, one does not take any sand with
it.

Being located at one side of the old road between Cresco and
Canadensis every visitor has an opportunity of seeing it without going
more than a few feet out of his direct way. Some of the stories told
about the old Sand Spring are worth hearing, and no one can tell them
better or with more special pleasure than the farmers living
thereabout. One man affirms that "more 'an a hundred b'ar and as many
deer have been killed while drinking the crystal water of the spring."

Each of the falls is a picture of true wild scenery. Though some miles
apart they may be here described in the same paragraph.

Great trees have fallen over the water from the banks and lodged on
huge projecting moss-covered rocks; they are additional obstacles to
the rushing, roaring, down-pouring water, which flows through and over
them like melted silver. This against the dark background of the
mountain woods, the blue and snow-white of the heavens, the green of
the rhododendron-lined banks, and the streams' bottoms of all-colored
stones creates a series of charming and ever-varying views.

A half dozen trout, weighing from one to two pounds and a half, may
always be seen about the huge rock at the point where the lower
Brodhead and the Spruce Cabin Run come together, and hundreds may be
seen in the stream below the Buckhill Falls. I do not know that fish
may be actually seen in any other parts of the waters of Canadensis,
but at these points the water is calm and the bottom smooth, and the
specimens are plainly in view.

Do not waste time on the "flock" lying about the big rock at Brodhead
Point. The trout there will deceive you. I played with them a half
day, and before I began work on them I felt certain I would have them
in my creel in a half-hour's time. They are a pack of pampered idlers
who do not have to move a fin to feed. All the trout food comes
rushing down both streams from behind these big rocks into the silent
water and floats right up to the very noses of these gentlemen of
leisure. If you have any practicing to do with the rod and fly do it
here. These trout are very obliging; they will lie there all day and
enjoy your casting all sorts of things at them. This is a good place
to prove to yourself whether you are a patient fisherman or not.

And now a few words about the proper tackle for mountain streams. Most
anglers use rods that are too heavy and too long. During my first
visit I used a rod of eight feet, four ounces, and I soon found that,
while it was a nice weight, it was too long for real convenience,
although there were rods used there nine and ten feet long. My rod was
the lightest and one of the shortest ever seen in the valley. There
are only a few open spots where long casts are necessary, and a long,
ordinary-weight trout rod is of very little service compared with one
of seven, seven and a half, or eight feet, four or three ounces, that
can be handled well along the narrow, bush-lined, tree-branch-covered
streams.

The greater part of the fishing is done by sneaking along under cover
of the rocks, logs, bushes, and the low-hanging branches, as casts are
made in every little pool and eddy. I use a lancewood rod, but of
course the higher-priced popular split bamboo is just as good. I shall
not claim my rod's material is the better of the two, as some men do
when speaking of their tackle, but I am quite sure I shall never say
the split bamboo is more than its equal. I do not advise as to the
material; I speak only of the weight and length. Let every man use his
choice, but I seriously advise him to avoid the cheap-priced split
bamboo rod.

If split bamboo is the choice, let it be the work of a practical
rod-maker. Any ordinary wood rod is better than the four-dollar split
bamboo affair.

The leader should be of single gut, but the length should be a trifle
more than is commonly used. Twelve feet is my favorite amount. The
reel should be the lightest common click reel; the creel, a willow one
that sells for a dollar in the stores; and the flies--here's the
rub--must be the smallest and finest in the market. Large, cheap,
coarse flies will never do for Eastern waters, and you must not fail
to secure your list of the proper kind, as well as all your outfit,
before you start on your trip. The only decent thing on sale in the
village stores is tobacco.

When you buy your flies buy lots of them, for, be you a tyro or
practical Angler, you will lose them easier on these streams than you
imagine. Yes, you must be very careful about the selection of your
flies. They must be small and finely made, high-priced goods. I wish
I might tell you who to have make them, but I dare not, lest I be
charged with advertising a particular house. Regarding the patterns to
use, I will say that none are more killing than the general list, if
they are the best made and used according to the old rule all are
familiar with--dark colors on cold days and bright ones on warm days.
The later the season the louder the fly--that is, when the season
closes during hot weather, as it does in Canadensis. My favorite time
here is from June 15th to July 15th, the closing day, but any time
after the first two weeks of the open season is very charming. I avoid
the first week or two because the weather is then cold and the trout
are more fond of natural bait than the artificial fly. Men take
hundreds of fish early in the season with worms and minnows.

I never wear rubber boots to wade in. An old pair of heavy-soled shoes
with spikes in their bottoms, and small slits cut in the sides to let
the water in and out, and a pair of heavy woolen socks comprise my
wading footwear. The slits must not be large enough to let in coarse
sand and pebbles, but I find it absolutely necessary to have a slight
opening, for if there be no means for the water to run freely in and
out, the shoes fill from the tops and become heavy. Rubber boots are
too hot for my feet and legs, while the water is never too cold. I
have often had wet feet all day, and have never yet experienced any
ill effects from it.

I never use a staff in wading, but I should, for here in some places
it is very hard to wade. I have often fallen down in water up to my
waist, overbalanced by the heavy current, where the bottoms were
rough, with sharp, slimy stones. If you carry a staff, follow the
custom of the old Anglers and tie it to your body with a string to
keep it out of the way and allow your hands to be as free as possible
for a strike. Your landing-net should be a small one, minus any metal,
with a foot and a half handle, and a string tied to a front button on
your garment should allow it to be slung over your shoulder onto your
back when not in use.

Of course, these little points about the use of different things are
all familiar to the Angler with but the slightest experience, and will
appear to him neither instructive nor interesting, but we must, as
gentle Anglers, give a thought or two to the earnest tyro, for we were
young once ourselves.

I always carry two fly-books with me; one big fellow with the general
fly stock in, which is kept at the farmhouse, and a little one holding
two dozen flies and a dozen leaders, which I carry on the stream. A
string tied to this, too, will prevent the unpleasantness of having it
fall in the water and glide away from you. I even tie a string to my
pipe and knife. The outing hat is an important thing to me. Mine is
always a soft brown or gray felt, and I use it to sit on in damp and
hard places fifty times a day.

CHAPTER X

TROUTING IN CANADENSIS VALLEY

The Canadensis Valley in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, is a
_fontinalis_ paradise. With my friend George Blake I creeled the
little heroes by the dozen every day for a week. We each could have
easily caught fifty in an afternoon had we cared to do so, but there
were other rural pleasures to attend to, and we were not dealing in
fish, and saw more beauty in just enough to eat than in wasteful
quantity. Fishermen are generally known as exaggerators, and I do not
deny that they do sometimes resort to an innocent little fib when a
yarn may amuse many and injure no one, but I must say that this
region's beauties are too numerous to overpraise by all the
exaggeration of all the fabricators in the world. No word of mouth or
pen could do justice to nature in these mountains. And I need not
elaborate on the fish; the truth is bold enough.

Brook trout weighing a quarter of a pound to a pound and a half are
taken every day by Anglers, who more than fill their creels. Two
gentlemen took in one day sixty-five beauties on the stream known as
Stony Run, and two Philadelphia Anglers took half a hundred the day
before above the Buckhill Falls. Another great stream in this region
is the Bushkill, and still another is Brodhead's Creek. The latter
flows past our camp, and is famous for big trout. My favorite is
Spruce Cabin Stream, above and below the beautiful Spruce Cabin Falls.
There are big trout in this water, especially at the bottom of the
falls, and I can--if I will--take fifty trout in an afternoon, and
they'll weigh from a quarter of a pound to one pound and a half. I
like something besides fish about a stream, and this is why I am fond
of the Spruce Cabin water.

There are not many Anglers in love with the place. Though beautiful,
it is very hard to fish. I have to creep under great trees that have
fallen over the water and then wade up to my waist to gain certain
points in order to get along down the stream. The banks are lined with
trees and shrubbery, and my line is ever getting tangled. One does not
need to be a fly-casting tournament Angler to fish any of the
Canadensis waters. Distance in the cast is not required as much as
accuracy at more than one or two places on each stream. The rest of
the fishing is done by short, low casts, and by creeping under
branches and letting the line float with the ripples into the eddies.
Every step or two there are little falls, and in the white, bubbling
water at their bottom a trout may be taken. Under the big fall, and in
the still waters above and below, the big trout hide.

Artificial flies are the popular bait with the gentle Angler, though
all sizes of trout will take worms, and the big, educated trout like
minnows. Both small, medium, and large trout like flies if the flies
are the right kind. We have had great trouble in getting good flies. I
brought four dozen with me, and not over a half dozen of them are
worth the snell tied to them; they are too clumsy in size, of coarse
material, and bad in color. The six decent ones are the work of an
artist. I could give his name, but it might look like an advertisement
and spoil my story. Trout like choice food just as much as human
beings favor savory dishes. You may stick an oyster shell on a reed,
and decoy a summer yellowleg, but you can't hook a trout on any kind
of a fly. They know a thing or two.

Tyros who angle in a trout country without success go home and say
there are no trout. They don't think about conditions of water and
weather; about their line lighting in the water before their bait;
about their coarse line and poor flies.

Trout are philosophers, not only the educated ones, those which have
been hooked and seen others hooked, but trout in general. They're born
that way. A young man came up here the other day with an old cane
pole, weighing fully three pounds, and a big salt water sinker, and he
went away saying there were few trout in these waters. I think he had
a float with him, too, but am not sure.

A word or two about appropriate tackle for mountain streams, and I'll
put up the pen and joint the rod again. In the city a few weeks ago I
proudly displayed a four-ounce, nine-foot lancewood rod, and my
friends laughed at me, saying it was too frail for any service. Now, I
find this rod, shortened two feet, just the thing for this country
where trout run small and where there's no long casting. I frequently
run across good Anglers here with five-ounce rods, and have seen two
four-ounce rods. There is no use for a rod above four ounces in weight
and seven feet in length. When I come again I shall use a three-ounce
rod. The reel should be the lightest and smallest common click, and
the line the finest enameled silk,tapered if you like. The
flies--here's the main thing--should be the best, and of the smallest
brook trout pattern. Next year, when I make up my supply, I'll pack
fully two hundred, and they'll be the dearest-priced flies, for they
are none too good.

[Illustration: THE TROUT BROOK]

Oh, I must say a word about cooking and eating trout before I close.
I've tried them in all styles, and the best way, I think, is when
they're roasted over a camp fire on a little crotch stick, one prong
in the head and the other in the tail. And the worst way, I think, is
when they're fried in a pan with bad butter or poor lard.

Blake and I are in our glory. Our only displeasure is in knowing that
our perspiring city friends are not as comfortable. The days here are
warm and bright--not hot and close--and the nights cool and clear, so
that we live merrily all the time.

I went a few hundred yards down the stream in front of the camp to two
great bowlders, one morning, and there, during a little sun shower,
took a _Salvelinus fontinalis_ that weighed just a little over two
pounds and a quarter. He rose to a pinkish, cream-colored fly, with
little brown spots on the wings. I forget its name, but it's one of
the six really good ones I referred to. I decided to keep the large
captive alive, so I took off one of the cords tied about my trousers
at the bottoms (I never wear wading boots in warm weather), put it
through his gill, and tied the other end to a submerged tree-root.
Later, Mr. Trout was lodged in a small box, with bars tacked over the
top, and placed under a spout running from an old mill race. He was a
big specimen--large enough to saddle and ride to town, the cook said.
And pretty--as pretty as a gathering of lilacs and giant ferns decked
with wintergreen berries.

CHAPTER XI

THE TROUTER'S OUTFIT

The rod for stream fishing should weigh from three to six ounces and
measure in length from seven to nine feet. Split bamboo and lancewood
are two of the best rod materials. If you cannot afford a good split
bamboo do not buy a cheap one; choose a lancewood.

The line should be a small-sized waterproofed silk one. The reel, a
small common light rubber click, holding twenty-five or thirty-five
yards.

The landing net, used to take the fish from the water after being
hooked, should be made of cane with linen netting, and have no metal
about it. The handle should be about a foot long. Tie a string to the
handle, tie the string to a button on your coat under your chin, and
then toss the net over your back out of the way.

The creel, or fish basket, should be a willow one about the size of a
small hand satchel. This should have a leather strap, to be slung over
the right shoulder, allowing the creel to rest on the left hip.

The hat should be a soft brown or gray felt with two-inch brim. This
may be used as a cushion to sit down upon on rocks or in damp places.

The footwear may be either rubber boots, leather shoes, or rubber
wading trousers. If the water is warm, wear leather shoes, and have
nails put in the thick soles to keep your feet from slipping in swift
water and on slimy stones. If you choose rubber boots see that they
are of the light, thin, thigh-fitting sort and not the clumsy affairs
with straps attached.

The fly-book for use on the stream should have room for not more than
a dozen flies, with pockets for leaders, silk cord, small shears, and
other tools. A larger book for your general stock of flies and leaders
may be left at your rural lodgings with your tackle box and other
traps.

The leader, to which are attached the flies in use, should be of the
finest quality of single silk gut, and in length three feet. Two of
these attached make a cast, though I prefer a longer cast of leader.

The coat and general clothing should be of a dead-grass, gray, or
light brown color. Have plenty of pockets, and tie a string to nearly
everything you carry in them, so you cannot lose them if they fall
from your hands.

The flies--every known variety of trout fly, providing you order these
of the finest make.

Do not undertake to go trouting stintingly equipped, which is not
saying that you are to dress and act like a circus clown. But you must
be properly outfitted. Good carpenters make good houses, but their
work is better and more pleasant if they have good tools.

The tyro who is not fortunate enough to have the friendship of a
practical fisherman to whom he may apply for advice should read the
works on angling and ichthyology by Izaak Walton, Henry William
Herbert ("Frank Forester"), Seth Green, Charles Hallock. Wm. C.
Harris, Thaddeus Norris, Genio C. Scott. Frederick Mather, Robert
Roosevelt, G. Brown Goode, Kit Clarke, Dr. Jas. A. Henshall, Charles
Zibeon Southard, Dr. Edward Breck, Emlyn M. Gill. George M. L.
LaBranche, Louis Rhead, Eugene McCarthy, Dr. Henry van Dyke, David
Starr Jordan. Dr. Evermann, Prof. Baird, Tarlton H. Bean, Richard
Marston, Frederick E. Pond ("Will Wildwood"). Mary Orvis Marbury, A.
Nelson Cheney, Charles F. Orvis, Dr. Charles Frederick Holder, Perry
D. Frazer. Emerson Hough, Rowland E. Robinson, Isaac McLellan. Francis
Endicott, Dean Sage, Wm. C. Prime. Henry P. Wells, Judge Northrup,
John Harrington Keene, _et al._, and make a study of the catalogues of
the better class of sporting-goods houses.

CHAPTER XII

TROUT FLIES, ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL

"The wide range of difference between the wet fly and the dry fly lies
in the fact that the wet fly is an imitation of no special thing
active and living, while the dry fly purports to be an imitation of
the natural fly. It is generally a well-known fact that any of our
well-known American wet flies can be converted into exceptionally good
dry flies by giving them an ablution of oil."--Robert Page Lincoln,
_Outdoor Life_. September, 1915.

Then the wet fly resembles the dry fly, and therefore the wet fly is
an imitation of the living fly. Of course it is. Is not the artificial
black gnat imitative of the live black gnat? And is not the white
miller artificial fly patterned after the living white miller fly?
Certainly. Mary Orvis Marbury, author of _Favorite Flies_, and
daughter of Charles F. Orvis, one of America's greatest fly-makers,
says so. So says William C. Harris, Seth Green, Frank Forester, Louis
Rhead, A. Nelson Cheney, Frederick Mather, Dr. Henshall, Charles
Hallock, Dean Sage, William C. Prime, Charles Z. Southard, Dr. van
Dyke, Edward Breck, _et al._

All angling writers in discoursing upon artificial flies use the
expressions "in season," "seasonable flies," etc. Now, how could this
or that artificial fly be in season if it were not copied from the
living fly? Of course, there are some artificial flies that are not
copied from nature, but the artificial fly in general is a duplicate
of the living thing. "When a fly is said to be in season," says Alfred
Ronalds, "it does not follow that it is abroad on every day of its
existence." But, our opinions must not be harshly expressed--rather
set forth "in pleasant discourse," as Walton says--for, as Pritt tells
us, "one of the charms of angling is that it presents an endless field
for argument, speculation, and experiment."

After the foregoing excerpt and my comment upon it appeared in the New
York _Press_ (Sept. 11, 1915). I wrote several of the authorities
mentioned, asking their views on the subject, and following will be
found their replies.

Henry van Dyke, author of _Little Rivers_, _Days Off_, _Fisherman's
Luck_, etc.:

For flies as "wet," or flies as "dry."
I do not care a whit--not I!
The natural fly is dry, no doubt.
While through the air he flits about;
But, lighting on the stream, you bet
He very often gets quite wet.
This fact is known to all the fish;
They take their flies just as they wish.
Upon the surface or below.
Precisely _why_ we do not know.
The honest Angler should not be
A man of rigid theory.
But use the most alluring fly.
And sometimes "wet," and sometimes "dry."

Louis Rhead, author of _The Book of Fish and Fishing_: "After
thirty-two years' active fishing for trout, beginning with a worm as a
bait, I have developed through various stages to know fish with
nothing but my own nature flies. I have made careful color pictures of
all the most abundant insects and produced flies tied to exactly
imitate them. Many insects do not and cannot float, yet an imitation
can be made of them to fish wet. The English dry fly is not of
necessity a copy of the natural insect. Halford has many fancy dry
flies that are not copies of insects. Nearly all American commercial
trout flies are fancy flies, and do not imitate insects. To be exact,
in fishing with a floating fly it is only right to use copies of
insects that will float, mostly drakes. The average Angler has been
sadly fooled by this so-called dry-fly fishing, and books have been
written (mostly culled from British sources), making Anglers more
bewildered than ever."

Charles Zibeon Southard, author of _Trout Fly-Fishing in America_: "In
reply to your question about trout flies, 'Am I right?' I would say
that unquestionably you are. From the earliest days of trout
fly-fishing it has been the intention of Anglers to have their flies
resemble as far as possible the natural ones found upon their trout
waters. One has only to read dear old Izaak Walton and the many noted
fly-fishing authorities that have followed to the present day to be
convinced of your view. Of course the art of fly-tying has advanced
with mighty strides during the past fifteen years and more especially
during the past ten years, and to the makers of 'dry' flies for the
wonderful development of the artificial fly too much credit, in my
judgment, cannot be given. That wet flies are not such remarkable
imitations of the natural flies as are the dry flies goes almost
without saying. As a matter of fact it is not the question which fly
is the better imitation, but that both the wet fly and the dry fly are
patterned, in most cases, after the natural flies. From the time of
Walton and before that, wet flies have been patterned after natural
flies. In many instances nowadays wet flies are not designed to
represent natural flies, but such flies are freaks, are short-lived,
and are seldom used by real trout fly-fishermen. There is no doubt in
my mind that taken as a whole wet flies have been intended to
represent natural flies, but quite often in the past and in the
present day have not been and are not good imitations. As the art of
fly-tying has advanced, more nearly do the artificial represent the
natural flies, and this advancement is due, in a great measure, to the
makers of dry flies. Speaking from a practical standpoint, the
so-called dry flies are the very best wet flies obtainable, and on
most American trout waters more trout will be caught on them when
fished wet than when fished dry, especially the _fontinalis_."

Dr. James A. Henshall, author of _The Book of the Black Bass_:
"Regarding the 'Trout Flies' clipping sent me for comment I think the
mention of my name in it is sufficient without adding anything more."

Dr. Edward Breck, author of _The Way of the Woods_, etc.: "I suppose
that I may subscribe to your paragraph in answer to Mr. Lincoln. We
old chaps all know that laying down any hard and fast rules for trout
is a futile undertaking; there are so many exceptions, and _les
extrêmes se touchent_ so very often. Many wet flies are certainly not
imitations of natural flies nor are they meant to be; as, for example,
the Parmachenee belle, which they say Wells fashioned to imitate the
belly-fin of a trout, always known to be a killing lure.
'Non-university' trout grab anything that looks like food, whether it
has the appearance of an insect or something else. The more educated
fish of the more southern waters may make finer distinctions. It is a
vast subject, and as many authorities may be found for almost any
statement as for the several pronunciations of the word 'Byzantine.'
You remember the scoffing English Angler who dyed his dry flies blue
and red and took a lot of fish with them, to the scandal of the
purists! The charm of the whole thing is precisely that there are no
rules. It is like style in writing English. Every man makes his own.
Whether it is more pleasing in the sight of Saint Izaak to wait for a
fish to begin feeding before casting over him, or for a man to sally
forth, and, by dint of knowledge and patience and skill, actually make
the trout rise to his lure, what arrogant mortal shall judge?"

Robert Page Lincoln: "Perhaps I should have said _some_ wet flies are
an imitation of no special object connected with living things. In the
list of wet flies there are experimentations galore that will serve as
well as any of the standard regulation flies. I can sit down and
construct offhand a fly to be used as wet or submerged that I feel
sure I can use with as much success as with the miller, gnat, or any
other fly that is no doubt much on the order of an imitation of the
natural. Perhaps in writing the article I was thinking too deeply of
the eccentric nondescripts that do not imitate nature. Yet these
nondescripts (flies tied anyway to suit the fancy), yet having hackle
wings, etc., will get the fish; they are drawn in the water gently
back and forth, thus purporting to be some insect drowning; yet I
doubt very much if the fish can tell what sort of a fly, living fly,
it should be. I do not care; it is the motion, the apparent endeavor
of the fly to get out of that watery prison that arouses the fish's
blood. However, Halford says: 'The modern theory is that these
patterns (the wet flies) are taken by the fish for the nymphæ or
pupæ--these being the scientific names of the immature insects at the
stage immediately preceding the winged form.... Candidly, however, the
presence of the wings in the sunk fly pattern has puzzled me, because
in my experience I have never seen the winged insects submerged by the
action of the stream. Sedges do at times descend to oviposit and so do
certain spinners, but the appearance under this condition, with an air
bubble between their wings, resembles nothing so much as a globe of
mercury--an appearance which bears no resemblance to the ordinary sunk
fly patterns.' I have been strictly a devotee to the wet-fly form, and
always hold that it is the better fly for our swift Western streams;
in the wet form certainly it is the better fly two thirds of the time.
Still, glassy pools, even smooth waters, come few and far between,
but, where they are, there the dry fly is a valuable addition to the
Angler's outfit. You might change my article (in the paragraph in
question) to read thus: 'The wide range of difference between some wet
flies and the dry fly lies in the fact that a good number of wet flies
are an imitation of no special thing active and living, while the
majority of the dry flies purport to be an imitation of natural
flies.' This would exclude the wet flies that make good dry flies,
namely the suggested millers, gnats, etc. It would be interesting to
know the number of captures made with wet flies as they fall lightly
to water and for a moment ride the brim. Captures have been made
wherein two thirds of the time the wet fly has lain on the surface
but a scant moment before it was seized. In my great number of
articles printed in the universal outdoor press I have always
suggested that the fly be cast easily to water, expecting, first, a
rise as it lies on the surface; second, failing at this, then the fly
submerges and is drawn in the water, to assure the opening and closing
of hackles, thus purporting to imitate the drowning, struggling
insect."

Charles Hallock, author of _The Sportsman's Gazetteer_, _The Salmon
Fisher_, etc.: "I have nothing more to say. I hung up my trout rod
last summer at Chesterfield. Mass., in my eighty-second year. So, my
fly-book is closed. Let younger Anglers do the talking and discuss _ad
infinitum_. Flies are not on my line. Good-bye."

"To frame the little animal
Let nature guide thee."
--GAY.

TROUT TAKING THE FLY

"You will observe when casting the wet fly ... that trout seldom rise
to the fly when it first strikes the water ... after years of
experience I am prepared to state as my opinion that such a thing does
not happen once in thirty casts."--Charles Zibeon Southard, _Trout
Fly-Fishing in America_.

This has not been my experience with _fontinalis_ in the streams and
ponds of Long Island, N. Y., and the mountain brooks of Pennsylvania,
where many of my trout took the fly almost before it touched the
water. I have seen trout catch large live flies in the air a few
inches over the surface. I think large trout in clear, still ponds
easily see the cast fly before it alights. The trout in rapid streams
may not be so alert, but I have certainly caught many a specimen on
the fly the instant the lure touched the water.

Mr. William M. Carey, who is responsible for the frontispiece in this
volume, is positive trout often jump out of the water in taking the
fly. I, too, have seen trout do so. It is not a regular practice of
the species, but I easily recall many instances of the trout leaping
clear of the surface and taking the fly in the descent. Trout of all
sizes will often strike both living and artificial flies with their
tails, this either in play or to disable the insect. A writer in
_Forest and Stream_ (January 9, 1901) says: "In fishing a trout stream
in northern Michigan I was using a cast of a Parmachenee belle and a
brown hackle. I was wading downstream, and I came to a place where a
tree had fallen into the stream, and after several casts I noticed
some small trout following my flies. I cast again, and while my flies
were five or six inches from the water a trout four or five inches
long jumped clear out of the water, grabbed my Parmachenee belle and
immediately dove with it in its mouth. I believe the same trout did
the same thing several times while I was fishing there. These were
brook trout and they were not jumping except when they jumped at my
flies."

The foregoing comments were submitted to Mr. Southard, and he writes
me:

"What you say about catching trout in Long Island waters and the
mountain brooks of Pennsylvania is entirely true. During the early
spring season I have caught, at times, many small trout on such waters
in precisely the same way, and in addition there have been days on
many different waters where occasionally during the whole of the open
season I have caught trout when they rose the moment the fly alighted
upon the water. These experiences of ours alone, however, do not
establish as a fact nor as a general proposition that trout rise to a
fly more often when it first alights upon the water than after the fly
has been fished or played by the Angler; nor that my statement as a
general proposition is not a correct one.

"The statement was perhaps poorly worded and thus misleading, and I
should have said that on _an average_ trout do not rise to a fly once
in thirty casts when it first alights upon the water. My opinion was
based, _first_, upon trout fly-fishing on all kinds of fishable waters
wherever found; _second_, upon all sizes of trout from the minimum of
six inches to the maximum of thirty inches whether or not they were
indigenous or planted fish; _third_, upon my own experience of over
twenty-five years as well as the opinion of many Anglers and guides
with an experience covering a longer period than my own; _fourth_,
upon my knowledge of the habits and habitats of trout under the many
varying conditions which govern their lives and actions.

"Unfortunately most Anglers have given almost no thought to studying
and analyzing 'the art of fly-fishing' to the end that they may become
better and more successful fishermen and thus enjoy to a greater
extent the pleasures of the clean, dignified, and delightful sport of
angling. It is not surprising then that an Angler upon first thought,
even an experienced one, might think that trout rise to flies when
they first alight upon the water more often than once in thirty casts
because he remembers only the rises and his successes, but pays very
little attention to the lack of either. How many Anglers know
approximately the number of casts they make in an hour? How many know
the number of rises they have and when? How many know the number of
trout that rise and strike and are hooked and landed? The answer is
'Few indeed'; and those who hazard a guess are usually far from the
facts.

"The average fly-fishing Angler casts his fly or flies, _on most
waters_, from five to seven times a minute and the less experienced
Angler from seven to ten times. With the more experienced Angler this
means that he casts from 300 to 420 times in an hour and in five hours
from 1500 to 2100 times. Let us take the lesser number as a basis of
reasoning; in one hour, if once in thirty casts a trout rose, struck,
and was hooked when the fly first alighted upon the water, the
Angler's creel would be richer by ten fish and in five hours by fifty
fish. Then to this number should be added the trout that rise, strike,
and are hooked _after_ the fly has alighted upon the water and has
been fished or played by the Angler. Would it not be a fair
proposition to say that at least as many trout would be caught under
the latter circumstances as the former? To my mind it would. The
Angler then would have creeled one hundred fish in five hours. As some
trout, even with the most expert of Anglers, are bound to be lost let
us be liberal and place the loss at fifty per cent., thus making the
Angler's net catch fifty instead of one hundred fish. Think this over
and think over what your experience has been, day after day and season
after season, and ask yourself if a catch of this size is not very
unusual on the best of trout fishing waters. So far as my own
experience goes it certainly is most unusual, and I fish on many fine
waters each year and for at least one hundred days.

"There are some places, especially in the State of Maine, and notably
'The Meadow Grounds' of 'The Seven Ponds,' Franklin County, where at
times large numbers of small trout, running from five to seven or
eight inches, can be caught in a fishing day of five hours and I have
known of Anglers catching, though not killing, from three hundred to
seven hundred trout and most of them rose to the flies when they first
alighted upon the water. At 'Tim Pond,' Maine, the only place I know
where more trout can be caught on the fly than by bait, one hundred to
two hundred trout have been caught in one day on the fly, but in most
instances these trout take the fly _not_ when it alights upon the
water but _after_ it has been played. Such occurrences as these,
however, take place where countless numbers of small trout are found
in the shallow waters of remarkable and wonderful natural breeding and
propagating sections. Instances of this kind prove nothing because
they are the great exception and the art of fly-fishing is not brought
into play, for one fly is as good as another and the small boy with
his fifty-cent pole can catch just as many trout as the man of
experience with his thirty-dollar rod of split bamboo. Yet in
expressing my opinion about trout rising to a fly when it first
alights upon the water I took into consideration just such instances
as I have cited.

"'For your own satisfaction and education,' to quote from my book,
'when the opportunity offers, keep an account of the number of rises
you get when your fly first strikes the water and the number you get
after you have begun to fish the fly, and so prove for yourself what
the real facts are on this subject.'

"It is unquestionably true that all trout both large and small, when
in clear, still water that is shallow, easily see a cast fly before it
alights upon the surface.

"At times, under certain conditions both on streams and lakes, trout
will leap into the air and take small as well as large flies in the
air. But seldom will large or very large trout rise above the surface
for any kind of fly either real or artificial.

"In order that there may be no misunderstanding I would say that I
classify the size of trout as follows:

"Small trout, 8 inches and under.

"Medium sized trout, 9 to 13 inches.

"Large trout, 14 to 18 inches.

"Very large trout, 19 inches and over.

"Trout found in rapid streams are more alert than trout found
elsewhere; they in most cases represent the perfection of trout life
in all its different phases. Trout in rapid streams are snappy risers
to both the real and artificial fly but owing to the current they
frequently 'fall short' and fail to strike and take the fly. Such
trout when they do take the fly are the easiest to hook because they
often hook or help to hook themselves owing to the current.

"Your experience can hardly be said to differ materially from my own
in the instances you mention, but I cannot help thinking that you have
failed to take into account the many times when you have returned with
an empty or very nearly empty creel or to consider the number of times
you have actually cast your fly on the days when the creel was full to
overflowing.

"If you have cited your usual experience then I heartily congratulate
you upon your skill and upon your good fortune in knowing such
remarkable fishing waters wherein there dwells 'the most beautiful
fish that swims.'"

I fully agree with Mr. Southard, and I, too, should have worded my
comment differently, though I didn't declare, fortunately, that most
of my trout were taken the instant the fly touched the water. I used
the word "many" in both instances where I spoke of the trout taking
the fly. I think I should have considered more deeply Mr. Southard's
line "once in thirty casts"; then we'd have understood each other.
However, no crime has been committed; far from it, for look you,
reader, what you have gained--all this delightful extra practical
reading; and remember ye, "one of the charms of angling," as Pritt
says, "is that it presents an endless field for argument, speculation,
and experiment."

CHAPTER XIII

THE BROOK TROUT'S RIVAL

When the German brown trout was introduced in the brook trout streams
of Pennsylvania some years ago fly-fishermen condemned the act because
they believed the brook trout (_S. fontinalis_) was superior to the
brown trout as a game fish. Deforestation, rendering the streams too
warm for the brook trout, has changed the fly-fisherman's feeling in
the matter. The brown trout can thrive in warm water, and with the
brook trout's gradual extermination the brown trout is being welcomed
as the next best thing. A correspondent at Reading, Pa., signing
himself "Mourner"--he mourns the passing of the true brook
trout--declares the brown trout strikes harder than the brook trout
and after being hooked, unlike the brook trout, makes two or three
leaps out of the water, but is not so gamey and cunning as the brook
trout and tires out much quicker. The German species has been popular
because it attains a larger size quickly and destroys almost every
fish in the streams, including the brook trout. "The fly-fishermen who
for years have matched their skill, cunning, artifice, and prowess
against the genuine brook trout that since creation dawned have
inhabited the mountain brooks that flow down every ravine," says
Mourner, "have had forced on them, as never before, the sad truth
that, like the deer, bear, quail, woodcock, and grouse, brook trout
are slowly but surely passing. There never was a fish so gamy,
elusive, and eccentric, so beautiful and so hard to deceive and
capture by scientific methods as the native brook trout. No orator has
yet risen to fully sound its praises; no poet to sing its merits as
they deserve; no painter to produce its varied hues. The brook trout
was planted in the crystal waters by the Creator 'when the morning
stars sang together' and _fontinalis_ was undisturbed, save as some
elk, deer, bear, panther, or wildcat forded the shallows of his abode,
or some Indian or mink needed him for food. In this environment the
brook trout grew and thrived. Much warfare made him shy and suspicious
until he became crafty to a degree. The brook trout successfully
combated man's inventive genius in the shape of agile rods, artificial
flies and other bait calculated to fool the most wary, and automatic
reels, landing nets, and other paraphernalia designed to rob a game
fish of 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' But it was not
until the tanner and acid factory despoiler turned poisoned refuse
into the streams and the dynamiter came upon the scene and the
sheltering trees were cut away by the lumberman, letting in the sun
and warming the water to a nauseous tepidity, that the brave trout
faltered, hesitated, and then quit the uneven conquest. Carp and bass
were planted in the streams to further endanger the brook trout's
existence. Next the California trout and the German brown trout, who
prey upon the true brook trout's progeny, followed, till finally,
beaten, baffled, dismayed, poisoned, routed, and overwhelmed by the
superior numbers and size of a cannibalistic race, he gradually began
his retreat. It is good-bye to the brook trout now. With him it was
either cool pools, solitude, and freedom, or extermination. The waters
that pour down into larger streams are sad memories now of his school
playgrounds. No more will the sportsman's honest hunger be appeased by
the brook trout's fine-grained flesh from hardening waters of nearby
mountain brooks. But memory of the brook trout cannot be wrested from
those who knew him at his best, and braved personal danger from
rattler, bear, and wildcat to win him from the crystal waters. The
brook trout has been butchered to make a carp's holiday. Gone he may
be now, but he will live forever in the dreams of all true fishermen
as the real aristocrat of the mountain streams. The like of him will
not soon be seen again." The Fish Commission has mastered the science
of the artificial propagation of the brook trout--millions are now
produced with little trouble and expense--and the stocking of waters
is a common practice, but the Fish Commission can't propagate forests
and woodland streams. Mourner must know that the brook trout itself is
not hard to save; it is the preservation of its wild habitat that is
the great puzzle. If the United States Forestry Department will
protect the trout streams from the greedy lumberman, the factoryman,
and acid maker, the Fish Commission will have no trouble in saving the
brook trout.

CHAPTER XIV

TROUT ON BARBLESS HOOKS

Most women who indulge in fishing are, like children, mere fish
takers, not Anglers, but the craft is honored by the association of
many fine female devotees who study and practice the gentle art in its
fullest meaning--a devotion to the poetic, artistic, healthful, and
humane elements in piscatorial pursuits. Dame Juliana Berners, who
wrote the earliest volume on gentle fishing (1500), was the first
celebrated example of the artful and merciful woman fisher, and
Cleopatra the first female to make notorious the coarse and ungodly
method in fishing for pastime. Sweet Dame Berners believed in
angling--the desire of fair treatment to the quarry, correct tackle, a
love of the pursuit superior to greed for number in the catch, and a
heavenly admiration of the general beauties of nature in the day as
well as in the play; and brutal Cleopatra believed in mere fishing,
the killing of the greatest number, regardless of means, mercy, or
method.

Our modern Dame Bernerses and Cleopatras in the fishing fold are many.
The wife who aids the net fisherman--the marine farmer whose calling
emulates the professional duties of Jesus' disciples, Peter. Andrew,
James, and John--does not count. Her part in fishing, while by no
means angling, is as honest as the work of the upland farmer's
helpmate, and God Himself will not condemn little children, male or
female, who fish indiscriminately, "because they do not know." Fishing
for the modern market is just as honorable as market fishing was in
the ancient days when Jesus praised the net fishermen and made them
His nearest and dearest friends, and angling--merciful ungreedy
fishing with humane tackle and a clear conscience--is even more
righteous than net fishing, because, while the main result of the
Angler's pursuit is the same as the marketman's--fish taking--the
Angler's method of capture is far less cruel, and his creel of fish is
far less in number than the boatful of the marketman.

The distinction in angling and fishing is made by the modes employed
in the taking, the killing, and the disposing of the fishes. Any
fisherman who uses tackle appropriate to the various species, who is
not greedy in his catch, who plays his game with mercy, who dispatches
it with the least suffering, who disposes of it without wanton waste,
and who is thankful to the Maker for the ways and means for all these
conditions, is an Angler. And cannot woman be as artful and gentle in
pursuits and as appreciative in feeling as man? Surely. England and
Scotland and Ireland are famous for their women Anglers, and Maine,
the Adirondacks, California, and Canada boast of the finest female
fly-casters in the world. There are more women Anglers in these
last-named territories than there are men Anglers in all other parts
of the United States. A woman, Mary Orris Marbury, wrote the best
volume scientifically descriptive of trout, bass, and salmon flies of
modern times, and Cornelia Crosby, a daughter of the Maine wilderness,
is the fly-fishing enthusiast of America.

Great minds, male and female, have gentle hearts. Izaak Walton handled
a frog as if he loved him. Cowper would not unnecessarily hurt a worm.
Lincoln upset his White House Cabinet to rescue a mother pig from a
mire. Webster neglected the Supreme Court to replace a baby robin that
had fallen from its nest. Moses, John the Divine, Washington, Thoreau.
Audubon, Wilson, and even Napoleon and Cæsar the mighty mankillers
were all of tender hearts, and all of these were--Anglers. Christ was
only a fisher of men, but He loved and associated with the fishers of
fishes. Walton, the father of fishers and fishing, angled for the
habits of fishes more than for their hides. The capture of a fish was
insignificantly incidental to the main notion of his hours abroad--his
divine love of the waters, the fields, the meadows, the skies, the
trees, and God's beautiful things that inhabit these. 'Tis the soul we
seek to replenish, not the creel. So a Long Island dairyman's daughter
views the theme, and she handles the mother and baby trout as if she
loved them. _Salvelinus fontinalis_, little salmon of the streams, the
Angler's dearly beloved brook trout--this is the dairymaid's special
delight. She breeds these rainbow-hued beauties and broods over them,
she feeds and fondles them, and they are to her what David's holy,
fleecy flock were to him--his blessed charge by heavenly day and
cardinal care at night. They feed from her hand, and play like kittens
with her fingers. Cleopatra cleaved her fishes with a murderous hand
and hook. Audrey cuddles her trout with a magnanimous mind and heart.

The trout, with all its famous beauty of color, grace, and outline,
all its army of admirers, all the glory of its aqua-fairyland habitat,
all its seeming gentility of breeding and character, is none the less
a little villain at the killing game, like the less admired feline and
canine and serpentine species, for he will devour the daintiest and
gaudiest butterfly that ever poet sang of. Fledgling robins and
bluebirds, orioles and wrens are meat and drink to him. Young
chipmunks and squirrels that lose their balance in the storm fall into
his ready maw. The bat, the bee, the beetle and ladybug are rich
morsels to his gastric eye, and the golden lizard, the umber ant, the
silvery eel, the crawling angleworm, the chirping cricket, creeping
spider, the grasshopper, the hopping frog, and e'en the heavenly
hummingbird are but mealtime mites to him. Perhaps the knowledge of
this life-destroying trait in all the fishes made Cleopatra
indifferent to the gentler mode of fishing, just as it had a softer
influence over Audrey, for she, though loving both the fishes and
their victims, was induced to angle and thus punish, but never kill,
her finny favorites. She had heard of the artificial dry fly Anglers
of Europe using the barbless hook that held the trout without pain or
injury, and this she made herself, tying up dozens of somber-hued and
lustrous patterns on the bent bit of bronze that formed the snare. The
ruly trout who gently waver in the deep pool, satisfied with the food
supplied by their fair mistress, and who behave themselves when they
swim abroad in the general ponds and streams, are not molested, but
the rebellious urchins who, disdaining the bits of liver and worm fed
to them in plenty, go forth to slay the happy ladybug and butterfly,
are made the game of the barbless hook.

Audrey has five or six thousand trout in the pond and the stream
flowing into it. The surrounding country is wildly beautiful, the
water being surrounded by great trees of elm, hickory, maple, beech,
chestnut, walnut, and dogwood, under which is spread a rich green
lawn, with here and there patches of wild shrubs, vines, and ground
flowers. Rustic benches circle the water-edge oaks, and sleek deer, as
tame as Belgian hares, browse on the rich grass and eat dainty morsels
from the palms of their human friends. Cleopatra's marble perch basin
was cold and deadly in its artificial atmosphere. Audrey's woodland
trout preserve is warm and lifelike in its natural loveliness.

CHAPTER XV

THE BROOK TROUT INCOGNITO

(_The "Sea Trout"_)

"I am the wiser in respect to all knowledge and the better
qualified for all fortunes for knowing that there is a minnow in
that brook."--THOREAU.

There is still considerable argument about the identification and
classification of the sea trout. Some authorities still claim the sea
trout is a distinct species; others declare it to be the brook trout,
_Salvelinus fontinalis_, that goes to sea from the fresh water ponds
and streams.

The squeteague (_vulgo_ weakfish, wheatfish, sea bass, white sea bass,
carvina, checutts, shecutts, yellowfin, drummer, bluefish, squit,
suckermang, succoteague, squitee, chickwit, gray trout, sun trout,
salmon, salmon trout, shad trout, sea trout, salt-water trout, spotted
trout, etc.) is not a trout of any sort; so this species need not be
considered in this sea trout discussion.

My personal theory concerning the sea trout is that any trout that
goes to sea is a sea trout, and that more than one species of trout go
to sea--whenever they have the opportunity.

The small-stream trout that visit the ocean do so mainly in search of
a change in food; the sea-going trout of large rivers are impelled to
leave their fresh water retreats for the ocean waters also to satisfy
a desire for new varieties of food, but more so because of an instinct
that warns them of the danger of remaining in the fresh-water rivers
during certain periods of the year--the coldest seasons when the
waters freeze to the river bottom, and in the melting time, when the
ice thaws into huge sharp-edge chunks, and the mass of ice,
swift-running water, and rocks turn the rivers into raging, roaring
floods that would cut and bruise the trout unmercifully.

Nature makes these large-river brook trout in the calm periods of
spring, summer, and autumn, and sea trout in severe winter weather and
during dangerous flood time.

The broad streams of the west coast of Newfoundland--Fishels River,
Crabs River, Big and Little Codroy Rivers, Big and Little Barachois
Rivers, and Robinson's River--afford the best evidence of trout
migrating to the sea to escape the fury of the flood, and any of the
little trout streams in any part of the world where the streams flow
into salt water will afford the student means of observing the trout's
fondness for marine excursions in search of a change of diet.

Just as the different species of trout are widely contrasting in
colors, shapes, sizes, traits, etc., while in their natural
habitat--fresh water--so are they confoundingly different in these
matters while sojourning in salt water.

The true brook trout (_Salvelinus fontinalis_) is of various shades,
shapes and sizes, these depending upon the character of the water he
inhabits. In shallow, swift streams of a light color pebble bottom
the specimens in general are likely to be thin, narrow, and of a
bright gray hue, though, of course, there are individual specimens in
this condition of water that are exceptions to the rule--a few old
specimens who have sheltered themselves for years in dark, deep,
steady spots under the protruding bank of the stream, or along the
side of a sunken tree stump, etc. This autocrat of the eddy is fat,
stocky, and dark in color, just the opposite of his younger relatives
of the swift-running part of the stream.

The brook trout of deep, still dark-bottom ponds are fatter, darker,
broader, of duller color and of slower motion than their brothers of
the rapid waters. The trout's shape, weight, size, and color are
influenced by its food, its age, its activity, its habitat, and its
habits. Its color corresponds to the color of the water bottom, and
will change as the water bottom changes. If removed to a new water,
where the bottom color is different from the bottom color of its first
abode--lighter or darker, as the case may be--it will gradually grow
to a corresponding shade, blending with its new habitat just as its
colors suited the stones and grasses and earthy materials of its
native domain.

The landlocked trout, if imprisoned in a deep, dark, muddy-bottom,
shaded woodland pool, will be dull in color, stocky in shape, and of
sluggish habits. The trout confined to a bubbling fountain pool, with
a bottom of golden sand, at the foot of a waterfall, in the full glare
of the sun, will be of albino character.

Perhaps no other fish offers specimens of its own kind so deeply in
contrast as _fontinalis_. This is scientifically and interestingly
illustrated in many ways--color, size, shape, form, action,
environment, etc. For example, consider the big, fat, long, strong,
copper-color brook trout that, having access to salt water,
gormandizes upon the multitudinous food of the sea--shrimp, killifish,
spearing, spawn, crab, etc.--and the tiny, active, silvery albinolike
brook trout that is locked in a small foamy basin under a dashing
waterfall, feeding only upon minute crustacea and the insect life that
is carried to its watery prison. These two specimens are not freakish
individuals of their species--like the blunt-nose specimen and the
various other deformities--but are quite common contrasting
representatives of their tribe.

If we were to display in a group side by side one of each of the
shape-and-color-differing specimens--one large copper-shade, sea-going
brook trout, one tiny silvery, fountain-locked brook trout, one
ordinary-environed brook trout, one blunt-nose brook trout, etc.--the
fact of their being of an identical species would be correctly
appreciated by the scientific man only.

I am not resorting to poetic license or theorizing or delving into
ancient precedents to carry my point of natural history, for I once
captured one of the big, sea-going specimens, and my friend, James
Cornell, angling in an adjacent stream the same day, brought to creel
a little silvery beauty of the foamy waterfall. Shape, form, tint,
weight--every mood and trait--were of astounding contrast in these two
specimens, yet both were of the same species, the true brook trout; my
dark, strenuous three-pounder taken in the open, brackish creek as I
cast from the salt meadowland sod banks, and Cornell's albinolike
gamester succumbing to the fly in the foamy fountain of a deep
woodland brook; both specimens widely separated in appearance, habits,
and habitat, but still both legitimate brothers of the family
_fontinalis_--little salmon of the streams.

Trout in the sea feed on shrimp, the spawn of herring, and on the
entrails of cod and other species of fishes thrown away by market
fishermen.

If the sea-going trout did not eat the spawn of the herring, herring
would be too plentiful for Nature's even-distribution arrangement. The
sea trout is gorged with herring spawn, which lies in heaps like so
much sawdust on the shores and shallow places of the ocean. Cod spawn
and milt float on the water's surface; the spawn of the herring sinks.

The sea trout fresh from the streams is plump, has bright red spots,
and is in ordinary color when it goes to sea; when it returns to the
streams, though bigger (longer) and stronger, it is comparatively
thin, and is of white or silver-sheened shade.

Prof. George Brown Goode (_American Fishes_): "The identity of the
Canadian sea trout and the brook trout is still denied by many, though
the decision of competent authorities has settled the question beyond
doubt."

Eugene McCarthy (_Familiar Fish_): "Many Anglers are now turning their
attention to catching sea trout, either on account of the novelty of
the sport or because they believe that they are taking a new variety
of fish. That there is novelty in such fishing cannot be denied, but
that the fish is new in any way certainly can be.... There is no doubt
that the sea trout and the brook trout are one and the same fish. It
is broadly claimed that any of the trout can live as well in salt
water as they can in fresh water, and everything seems to prove the
claim to be correct. All trout grow to a larger size in salt water
than in the brooks or rivers, and they lose their spots in the sea,
becoming pale and silvery in color. Brook trout were originally found
at a distance not greater than three hundred miles back from the ocean
in waters tributary to it. Where conditions of temperature were
favorable, they invariably sought salt water. When transplanted to, or
found in, inland waters, they have adapted themselves to fresh-water
conditions as well. All members of the trout family require cold water
for their habitat, averaging about 68 degrees or less. Therefore, they
must either seek the cold water of the ocean, or, if barred from that
by long stretches of warm-river waters, they must seek the cold, small
tributaries high up in the hills. While trout are found in the
highland streams south of New York as far as South Carolina, they are
not able to seek the sea on account of the warm, intervening waters.
In Long Island (N. Y.) streams all trout are sea-going. From that
point along the coast northward sea trout are rarely, if ever, found
until the northern shores of Maine and New Brunswick are reached. All
rivers flowing into the St. Lawrence as far west as Quebec, as well as
those entering the Saguenay and those of the Labrador coast, are
especially noted for most excellent sea trout fishing, and are the
favorite resorts of Anglers.... In all ways the sea trout corresponds
with the brook trout when taken in fresh water. If taken in salt
water, there will only be the variation of coloring. ... ouananiche
... and sea trout ... with the exception of salmon ... afford the
greatest sport that the Angler can find.... Exactly the same tackle is
used (for sea trout) as for ouananiche, trout, or bass, and the same
flies, both in kind and size.... When the fish begin to leave the sea
and ascend the rivers, the bright colorings not only return, but
actually appear to be more beautiful than those of the trout that
always remain in fresh water.... But little attention, comparatively
speaking, has been given to sea trout, principally because their
nature was not understood, and, in fact, but little has been said or
written in regard to them to arouse interest. The lessees of the sea
trout streams on Long Island are very enthusiastic over the fishing
they secure, as are those sportsmen who have sought it in Canada. The
Canadian rivers are now more quickly and easily reached than formerly,
and as the fish are rapidly acquiring fame they are bound to become
much sought after by Anglers. However, sea trout fishing is but
fishing for brook trout under different conditions, and amid varied
surroundings. They offer, however, two extra inducements--they are
more plentiful and usually average larger."

Charles Hallock (_Sportsman's Gazetteer_) refers to the common theory
that sea trout (Canada) are merely a clan or detachment of the brook
trout which have temporarily left their fresh-water haunts for the
sea; then Mr. Hallock asks: "But, if we must accept this as a
postulate, we must be permitted to ask why the same peculiarities do
not attach to the trout of Maine. Cape Cod, and Long Island? Why do we
not discover here this periodical midsummer advent and 'run' of six
weeks' duration; and why are only isolated individuals taken in the
salt-water pound nets and fykes of Long Island, etc., instead of
thousands, as in Canada? Moreover, the Canadian sea trout are never
taken in the small streams, but only in rivers of considerable size,
and the same trout uniformly return to the same river, just as salmon
do--at least, we infer so from the fact that six-pounders are
invariably found in the Nouvelle, and varying sizes elsewhere.
Besides, we must be able to answer why a portion only of the trout in
a given stream should periodically visit the sea at a specified time,
while an equal or greater number elect to remain behind in fresh
water; for we may suppose that, having equal opportunities, all have
the same instincts and desires."

But, trout of different localities do not have equal opportunities;
therefore, they have not the same instincts and desires. Local
conditions of Nature everywhere guide the instincts and govern the
desires of every living thing. So, the trout of Maine, the trout of
Cape Cod, the trout of Long Island--influenced by local
conditions--are all vastly different in opportunities, instincts,
desires, etc. The Eskimo biped, the African biped--the bipeds of all
countries--are all species of the animal man, but who dare suggest
that they all have equal (similar) opportunities and the same
instincts and desires?

Even individuals of the trout of one community are profoundly
separated in character from their immediate brothers and sisters.
Trout vary in their tastes and antics as they vary in color, shape,
and size. There are hundreds of natural trout flies and hundreds of
artificial trout flies, imitations of the living insects, used as
lures in fishing. Why so many patterns? Because the trout, like man,
is in love with a variety of foods at different times, and both man
and trout change in their tastes by the month, the week, the day, the
hour, and the minute.

The Angler does not have to use the hundreds of fly patterns at one
fishing, but he does experiment with a variety of the lures to find
the particular patterns the fish is responsive to at the moment. One
or two patterns would suffice--if the Angler could select the
particular species the trout are rising to without trying all the
patterns until he discovers the killing patterns. A chef might please
his master with one or two of the forty courses billed if he knew what
the man wanted. Sometimes the Angler can judge the appropriate fly to
use by observing Nature in seeing trout rise to the live fly; but
there are times when trout are not rising, times when they are tired
of the fly upon the water, and times when the real fly is not on the
wing.

General rules are of no service without a deep regard for general
conditions, local and otherwise. All trout must not be judged alike
even if they be of one species and in one little pool. Individuals of
man, though of one race and in one district, are not all alike in
their habits any more than they are in their shades, shapes, and
sizes.

The conditions of the large rivers of Newfoundland are different from
the conditions of the small streams of Maine, Long Island, and Cape
Cod; hence the differing desires of the trout in these differing
waters. There is no similarity in the quiet, tiny trout brooks of Long
Island and the broad torrential rivers of Newfoundland, and it is only
natural that the fishes of these deeply contrasting waters should be
widely separated in character--instinct, desires, color, shape, size,
etc. So I do not hesitate to express a belief that the sea trout, no
matter where we find it, is just our own fond _fontinalis_ incognito.

Between Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia, there are many wild sea trout
rivers where the fish have never seen a human being. Angle from the
middle of June to the end of August. In June large sea trout are
caught in salt water at the mouth of rivers on the artificial fly and
minnow bait. The best east shore sea trout streams are St. Mary's,
Muscadoboit. Tangier, Cole Harbor, Petpeswick, Quoddy, Sheet Harbor,
Moser's River, Half-way Brook, Smith Brook, Ecwon Secum, Isaac's
Harbor, and about Guysboro.

Southwest of Halifax great sea trout fishing may be had at Ingram
River, Nine Mile River, Hubley's. Indian River, and about Liverpool,
Chester, and the salmon country about Medway.

In New Brunswick beautiful and prolific sea trout waters may be
reached from the towns of New Castle (Miramichi River and
branches--May and June). Chatham (Miramichi River, Tabusintac River,
Bartibog River, Eskeldoc River), Bathhurst (Nipisguit River,
Tetagouche River, Caroquet River, Pockmouche River), and Campbellton,
in the Baie de Chaleur River, Restigouche River, and the Cascapedia.
Metapedia, Upsalquitch, Nouvelle, Escuminac rivers.

My choice of sea trout flies includes: Brown Hackle. Claret, Cinamon,
Codun, Jenny Lind, Parmachenee Belle, Montreal, Grouse, Silver Doctor.
Use sober-hued patterns in fresh water; bright patterns in salt water.
Hooks: Nos. 7 to 12.

CHAPTER XVI

HOOKING THE TROUT

"Give plenty of time for the fish to swallow the hook," says O. W.
Smith, in _Outdoor Life_ (December, 1914), addressing the croppie
(strawberry bass) Angler.

It is not un-anglerlike to catch any fish hooked beyond the lips?
Angling has its gentle qualities as well as its practical ends. It's
different in mere fishing. I don't believe any Angler would purposely
hook his game otherwise than in the lip--a nerveless center where
there is no pain--though the plain fisherman may resort to any method
in his pursuit.

I remember some years ago when two fishermen caught the same fish (a
large fluke), one hook being in the fish's mouth and the other hook on
the inside of the fish's stomach, it was decided after a long
discussion that the fish really belonged to the man whose hook held to
the mouth; the swallowed hook was judged as illegitimate.

Fishes hooked in the mouth do not suffer any pain. I've recaught many
a once-lost specimen with my snell in its lip; these in both fresh
water and salt water. Incidents of this character furnish one of the
many proofs that mouth-hooking the fish is perfectly humane. Two
friends witnessed my catch (July 11, 1915) of a Long Island
two-and-one-quarter-pound brook trout that had a fly and leader (my
first cast) dangling from its mouth, the gear he broke away with a few
minutes before his actual capture.

There is no need of subjecting fishes to any pain in angling. Hook
them in the lips, and kill them the very second they are taken from
the water. Letting them die slowly not only pains the captured fishes,
but injures them as food.

Be a sportsman in angling as well as in hunting. The chivalric gunner,
unlike the market shooter, does not pot his quail huddled stationary
on the ground; he gallantly takes it on the wing--gives it a fair
chance. So the Angler, unlike the trade fisher, gives his game fair
play. I catch quite my share of many species of fishes, but I only
rarely suffer them to swallow the bait, and this by accident. Even
pickerel and fluke (plaice) can be abundantly taken by being hooked in
the lips. I never allow the pickerel or the black bass to swallow the
bait; I hook them in the lip as I hook my trout--on the wing, as it
were.

CHAPTER XVII

DOCTOR NATURE

"The wise for cure on exercise depend;
God never made His work for man to mend."

"He that takes no holiday hastens a long rest."

Game is not the only thing sought for by many men and women who go
angling and shooting. Wise Lord Russell used to ride to the hounds
until he bagged an appetite, then turn suddenly and ride as hard as
possible to the nearest farmhouse and eat a hearty meal. Audubon and
Wilson went afield to study ornithology; Gray and Thoreau for the
study of general natural history, and thousands upon thousands of men
and women less famous have gone afield with rod and gun for still
another quarry--health.

Lord Russell's appetite hunting reminds me of the case of a young
invalid whom I once took on a trout fishing trip. The young man had
been ill all his life. Nobody seemed to know what his complaint was,
but everybody he came in contact with agreed that he was ill. He
looked it, and often said he was born that way. I defined his case the
first day I met him--the city complaint, a complication of general
under-the-weather-ness that is brought about by foul air, improper
exercise, steady indoor work, irregularity, cigarettes, and incorrect
food incorrectly eaten. He's well now. He went out in the woods for
two weeks every three months for six years, and at present he's as
fat and solid as a Delaware shad. I shall never forget his expression
when he hooked his first breath of fresh air and creeled a genuine
outdoor appetite. A woods appetite is very different from the hunger
that once in a while comes to the always-in-the-city man. It strikes
suddenly, one's knees begin to shake, and a cold perspiration breaks
out on the forehead. My poor young friend, having never previously
experienced an appetite, of course didn't know what had taken hold of
him. He began to cry and totter, and I stepped up to him just in time
to save him from falling off a moss-covered rock into a roaring trout
stream.

"I'm ill," he said, "have been ill all my life. I thought this trip
would do me good but I'm worse. Please let me lie down; I'm very
faint."

"Oh, come," said I, "you're only hungry; here, give me your rod, and
lean on my arm; you'll be all right in a little while."

I took him up to the farmhouse and started him slowly on some deviled
trout and watercress. Poor fellow, he reminded me of a young setter
dog born and brought up in the city and taken afield for the first
time. Well, that young man did nothing but cry and eat for two weeks.
He then went home to tell his folks he had come to life, and then
hurried out to feed and weep for another month. I know a hundred young
men and women in New York who are in a bad way with the city
complaint. The streets are filled with ghost-like creatures. Lord
Derby is right: "If you do not find time for exercise you will have to
find time for illness."

"To-morrow we will go a-fishing; do thou go now and fetch the bait."
--Hymir to Thar.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE BROOK TROUT

"Then, give me the trout of the mountain stream.
With his crimson stars and his golden gleam;
When he, like a hero, on the moss lies.
The Angler has won his fairest prize!"

AUTHOR UNKNOWN.

=Trout Taking Flies.=--"Trout invariably strike the insect first with
their tails, knocking it into the water and then devouring it with a
swift dart which can hardly be distinguished from the original
movement, so quickly does one succeed the other."--W. C. Prime.

=Trout Colors.=--The color of a trout's back depends on the color of
the bottom of the river. Rapidly growing trout differ greatly in spots
and color from those which grow slowly and thrive badly. A middle-aged
trout differs in color from an aged trout. Speaking generally, the
young, healthy, fast-growing fish will have silvery sides, white
belly, and plenty of well-defined spots. The poorly fed fish will have
few or no spots, a drab belly, and muddy yellow sides. Old trout are
particularly lank and large-headed.

=Tame Trout.=--An English gentleman has two brook trout that take
flies from his fingers, and that ring a little bell cord when they
are hungry. They were taught this latter performance by having bits of
food tied to the cord when it was first introduced.

=Wild Trout and Tame.=--"Somehow the catching of, as it were,
stall-fed trout has not the same charm as the fishing for the wild
trout. The domestics lack that fierce rush and dash of the wild
beauty."--John B. Robinson.

=Sight, Hearing, etc., of Trout.=--"There is no question ... as to the
high development of the senses of sight, taste, and hearing in
trout."--Wm. C. Harris.

=Trout at Play.=--"Many times have I leaned over the sides of my boat
in Northern waters, where the trout lay beneath me, and seen the
mottled beauties chase each other, and race and leap in rivalry of
sport, until their bright sides irradiated the dark stream with
glancing light, as if the rays of the sun had taken water and were at
their bath."--W. H. H. Murry.

=Trout in Hungary.=--The streams of Hungary afford excellent angling
for trout and grayling.

=Unidentified Trout.=--M. P. Dunham of Ovando. Montana, a sportsman's
guide of many years' experience, writes me: "We have two trout here in
Montana that I do not find pictured in _The Angler's Guide_ or any
other book I have seen containing the technical portraits of the
fishes. One of these trout weighs up to forty-nine pounds and its
average weights are twelve pounds to fifteen pounds. The other is a
small trout that averages less than one pound in weight, and it has
no spots. The large trout has a few spots, these being particularly
brilliant in the mating season--September and October. The best time
to fish for this large species is in August and September. Both of
these unidentified trout will rise to the artificial fly, but in
fly-fishing I have never taken a specimen of the large species that
weighed over six pounds, the fish ranging beyond this weight favoring
small fish and red meat for bait. The waters are overstocked with the
large variety; the small unspotted variety is only in one stream."
Undoubtedly these two trout are odd forms of well-known species. Mr.
Dunham should send specimens of each to the United States Fish
Commission at Washington. The small trout will undoubtedly prove to be
the common mountain trout, whose peculiar habitat--the one stream Mr.
Dunham mentions--is responsible for its peculiar coloring. The large
fish that ranges up to forty-nine pounds is no doubt a form of lake
trout which has been known to attain a weight of eighty pounds and a
length of six feet.

=The Trout's Symmetry.=--"Few humanly designed lines are more graceful
than those of the yacht. The trout is made up of such lines. It is a
submarine designed by the Almighty. It makes the most of the simple
elements of artistic beauty--symmetry of line, suggestive of agile
power, and delicately blended harmonies of rich color."--New York
_Evening Telegram_, editorial page, July 17, 1915.

=The Beautiful Trout.=--"Of all the many species of trout,
_Salvelinus_ or _Salmo_, the brook trout, _fontinalis_, is by far the
most beautiful."--Charles Zibeon Southard.

=A Loving Trout.=--At the Wintergreen estate, Highland Lake, Winsted,
Conn., a brook trout was kept in captivity in a deep spring for seven
years. When the fish was fifteen inches in length two other brook
trout, a male and female, each ten inches long, were placed in the
spring to keep the old fellow company. He promptly fell in love with
the lady trout and killed and swallowed her escort.

=Albino Trout.=--The fish hatchery in St. Paul, Minn., had at one time
twenty thousand albino trout in stock. This species was discovered in
1893. There is something peculiar in Minnesota waters which aids
propagation of this species. The fish are white mottled with red and
yellow spots; the fins are white with red bands mottled with yellow.
The eyes are red and the trout has apparently a transparent skin so
that the bones are visible through it.

=Rainbow Trout.=--Dr. A. E. Buzard, of Hayward. Calif., fishing in the
Spokane River within ten minutes' walk of the city of Spokane, Wash.,
creeled eleven rainbow trout weighing, collectively, seventeen pounds.

=Rocky Mountain Trout.=--H. E. Peck, of Kenman. North Dakota, and H.
N. Stabeck, of Minneapolis. Minn., enjoyed good trout fishing last
summer in the Crow West country of the Rocky Mountains. A catch of
thirty-one trout weighed, collectively, fifty-one pounds. The largest
specimen weighed three and one fourth pounds.

=Flood-water Trout.=--When the trout stream is flooded, the trout find
plenty of food and they gorge themselves with worms, etc. Then they
refuse the Angler's bait for several days--"trout feed on a rising
stream, not on a falling stream."--E. Curley.

=A Tame Trout.=--"Sunbeam, the pet speckled trout in the fish hatchery
at Estes Park, is very fond of being stroked and petted, and will swim
around and rub itself against a person's hand whenever a chance is
given it."--Estes (Calif.) Correspondent New York _World_. I'll
warrant this fish only rubs its lips against the hand of man. No fish
will willingly allow its body to come in contact with a man's hand,
because fishes are covered with a slime that protects them when they
encounter rocks, logs, etc., and they naturally would not voluntarily
waste this valuable armor.

=Traits of the Trout.=--The brook trout (_Salvelinus fontinalis_),
using its tail with vigor and precision, will splash water into the
midst of a mass of flying insects (midge, black gnat, mosquito, etc.),
and thus disable these insects so that they will fall on the surface
of the water, where they become easy prey to the voracious trout.
_Fontinalis_ will also use his tail in striking to disable larger
insects (butterflies, beetles, cricket, potato-bug, etc.), and the
Angler's artificial flies when they are floating in or upon the water.

=Rainbow Trout.=--"The rainbow takes the fly so readily that there is
no reason for resorting to grasshoppers, salmon eggs, or other bait.
It is a fish whose gameness will satisfy the most exacting of expert
Anglers, and whose readiness to take any proper line will please the
most impatient of inexperienced amateurs."--Prof. Evermann.

=The Tactful Trout.=--"Trout are emblems of quiet, calm, and
gentleness, such as love not to be in troubled waters or to be tossed
to and fro by the blustering of wicked and malevolent spirits, but
rather live quiet at home than enjoy abundance through labor and
trouble."--Randal Holme.

=Double-headed Trout.=--A two-headed brook trout is the product of the
fish hatchery at Colebrook, N. H.

=Trout in Side Currents.=--"As a general rule although many trout are
taken near, very near the rough, white water of a stream, they do not
as a rule lie in the very swiftest portions, but in adjacent and
quieter side currents."--Samuel G. Camp.

=The Angler's Joy.=--"The brook trout always will be the Angler's
greatest joy, but the German brown trout [introduced in American
waters] and the rainbow trout add variety to the social life of the
streams."--Neal Brown.

CHAPTER XIX

THE ANGLER

"I live not in myself, but I become
Portion of that around me; and to me
High mountains are a feeling, but the hum
Of human cities torture."

BYRON.

"He'd eat his lunch in a minute;
He had no time to spare.
At a mounted fish in a window
He'd stop an hour to stare."

_Judge._

=The Lone Angler.=--"The reason a man likes to go angling is that his
family doesn't like to go with him."--New York _Press_.

=The True Angler.=--"If true Anglers, you are sure to be gentle; and
as the truly gentle are always virtuous, you must be happy. Let
neither prosperity nor adversity deaden 'the fresh feeling after
Nature' which the use of the rod and reel always heightens or confers.
Whether overladen with good fortune or suffering under the shocks of
adversity, forget not to take the magic wand and repair to the
murmuring waters. 'The music of those gentle moralists will steal into
your heart'; and, while invigorating physical energy, your souls will
be charmed and your minds soothed and tempered by the melody of
birds, the sights of nature, and the sounds of inferior animals above,
around, and beneath the enlivening waters. With rosy dreams and bright
streams, breezy morns and mellow skies, a light heart and a clear
conscience, may 'God speed ye well.'"--Genio C. Scott, _Fishing in
American Waters_.

=Real vs. Rural Angler.=--The assertion that the bent-pin-fishing
country boy can catch more trout than the properly equipped Angler is
material of the comic papers. No impracticable boy, whether he be of
the country or of the city, can excel the correctly rigged, careful
Angler. The bent-pin youth of the farm may outfish the unskillful,
showy tyro from the city, but to compete with the scientific Angler he
would have about the same chance of outfishing the expert as a cow
would have fishing alongside of a mink.

=The Bicycle Angler.=--Mr. David Rivers writes me: "I ride my wheel to
my favorite angling places regularly in the spring, summer, and autumn
times. The four-ounce rod takes up no noticeable space on the wheel,
and my leader-box and fly-book are easily carried in my pockets."

=The Determined Angler.=--"There is peculiar pleasure in catching a
trout in a place where nobody thinks of looking for them, and at an
hour when everybody believes they cannot be caught."--Henry van Dyke.

=Dry and Wet Fly Angler.=--"Startling as the statement may sound, it
is probably true that the really good wet-fly fisherman is a greater
rarity than the really good dry-fly man."--London _Field_.

=The Expert Fly Angler.=--"A real expert with the wet-fly is a much
rarer bird than one with the dry."--London _Fishing Gazette_.

=The Finished Fly Angler.--= " ... to be a finished wet-fly Angler one
must possess as much skill as the dry-fly fisherman."--Emlyn M. Gill.

=The Angler Body and Soul.=--"To take fish is only the body of the
gentle art. Some of its real enjoyments are what the Angler sees and
feels--the echo of the running streams, the music of the birds, the
beauty of the flowers peering at him from every side, the bracing
atmosphere, the odor of pines, hemlocks, and spruce; the hush of the
woods at night, the morning song of the robin, and the revived
appetite."--A. L. H.

=Ye Gude Angler.=--"Wha ever heard o' a gude angler being a bad or
indifferent man?"--Noctes.

=The Merry Angler.=--"And if the angler take fysshe: surely thenne is
there noo man merier than he is in his spyryte."--Dame Juliana Berners
(1496).

=The Religious Angler.=--"The old man fished not for pastime, nor
solely for a subsistence, but as a solemn sacrament and withdrawal
from the world, just as the aged read their Bible."--Thoreau.

=The Satisfied Angler.=--Trout in the creel or no trout in the creel,
the Angler never complains of poor sport if there be trout in the
water he fishes, if the weather be pleasant, and the scenery fair.
Some fishermen judge their day by the actual catch of fish. The true
rodster loves the pursuit and capture of the fish, the bright day, and
the beautiful natural surroundings equally well.

=The Tidy Angler.=--I don't care if the fish I catch weigh only a
pound, no matter what the species may be. My tackle is light, fine,
and properly rigged, and with it, in taking big fish or half-pound and
pound fish, I have just as much sport as the man who uses heavy,
coarse, ill-kept tackle on bigger game alone. The woodcock--the king
of game birds--is bagged with No. 10 shot, but the sport of taking it
is quite as great as the shooting of fowl ten times its size.

=The Assiduous Angler.=--The constant-in-application man becomes the
practical fisherman.

=The Compleat Angler.=--"Walton's book is as fresh as a handful of
wild violets and sweet lavender. It breathes the odors of green fields
and woods."--Henry van Dyke.

=The Literary Angler.=--Izaak Walton's famous work, _The Compleat
Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation_, a copy of the first
edition, small 8vo, original sheep binding, London, 1653, brought the
highest price of the day (April 9, 1915) at the sale of the library of
the late General Brayton Ives at the American Art Galleries, New York,
$2475. George D. Smith was the successful bidder. The record price for
this edition is $6000, which was paid at the sale of the library of
W. C. Van Antwerp of New York some years ago at Sotheby's in London by
the late Bernard Quaritch, acting as agent for the late J. Pierpont
Morgan, in whose collection the valuable volume now is.

=A Centenarian Angler.=--Mrs. Jane T. Rinkle of Bristol, Tenn., is
over one hundred years of age. Still vigorous for one of her years,
Mrs. Rinkle believes that her long life and her bright prospect for
living some years longer is due to her fondness for angling. "I have
hardly passed a fishing season in fifty years," said the old lady at
her last anniversary party, "that I have not gone to the river with
hook and line."

=The Woman Angler.=--The Duchess of Bedford has the distinction of a
record catch of English salmon. Her creel for one day numbered
thirteen, the greatest string of salmon ever taken in a single day by
a woman. Three other prominent English women Anglers are Lady Sybil
Grey, daughter of Earl Grey, Milicent. Duchess of Sutherland, and Lady
Rosemary Portal, only child of the second Earl of Cairns. Each of
these ladies are highly expert in fly-casting.

=The Waltonian Angler.=--"It matters not at all what trout waters the
Angler fishes if he has the true and kindly spirit of Izaak Walton,
the Master Angler of years ago; for then every stream and lake has its
own peculiar and delightful charms in which the Angler revels while
angling, with either the wet or the dry fly, to fathom their
piscatorial secrets. Of all sport. I know of none that seems to
develop in the individual such a kindly spirit, such a full
appreciation of all living things, and such an absorbing love for the
many and varied charms of 'the open' as fly-fishing."--Charles Zibeon
Southard.

=The Merciful Angler.=--The names of three members of a recent jury in
the County Court of Brooklyn. N. Y., were Fish, Fisher, and
Fishline--a trio of honest men, no doubt. With Bates and Waters added,
this jury would have little trouble in mercifully holding up the
scales of justice.

=The Peaceful Angler.=--"Don't think of your business or profession
while fishing. Forget your desk, your pen, and also your debts and
your enemies, if you have any."--"The Professor."

=The Mathematical Angler.=--"His rule in fishing was to fish in the
difficult places which others were likely to skip."--Daniel Webster.

=The Ever-Youthful Angler.=--"Don't become old--go fishing once or
twice a week."--"The Professor."

=The Halcyonian Angler.=--"The whole arcana book of trout fishing
consists in rather the mental construction of the Angler than in the
manner and method of the process. The fish is a convenient peg, so to
say, on which we hang the _dolce far niente_, and render the day's
sport in its pursuit halcyon and superlative. The sport itself may be
insufficient, but there is always some recompense in the effort made
and in the close communion with 'dear nature's self.' Not always do
large bags and great results crown the Angler's desire. Too often it
is far otherwise, and yet the true Angler never feels like giving up
fishing because of poor sport."--John Harrington Keene.

=The Luxuriant Angler.=--James L. Breeze's string of salmon pools in
Restigouche cost this enthusiastic Angler $35,000.

=The Concentrated Angler.=--"A gentleman hesitates to bother anybody
whose mind is concentrated on his fishing. The expert knows by
experience one question leads to another, then on to begging,
borrowing, or buying. The expert knows that tyros are never provided
with tackle, bait, or reasonable consideration for others. They expect
the whole boatload of Anglers to wait on them because they catch no
fish."--Louis Rhead.

=The Home Angler.=--"The sporting element among fishermen haven't any
fine sensibilities ... the true fishermen fish for edible fish only
for their own use and the use of their families."--"Piscator."

=The Lost Angler.=--"Remember that water always is supposed to run
south, save in a few instances where it runs direct north or west from
the mountains, as the Red River in Minnesota, flowing north, for
instance. This certainly would be a misleader. But as a rule water
runs south. Follow it. Along streams man makes his abode."--Robert
Page Lincoln.

CHAPTER XX

ANGLING

"... which, as in no other game
A man may fish and praise His name."

W. BASSE.

"I chose of foure good dysportes and honeste gamys, that is to
wyte: of huntynge: hawkynge: fysshynge: and foulynge. The best to
my symple dyscrecon why then is fysshynge: called Anglynge with a
rodde: and a line and an hoke."--DAME JULIANA BERNERS, _The
Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, 1496_.

"If the bending rod and the ringing reel
Give proof that you've fastened the tempered steel.
Be sure that the battle is but begun
And not till he's landed is victory won."

AUTHOR UNKNOWN.

=Fair and Foul Angling.=--Anybody can catch a trout with a worm. This
is the bait of the boy and the boatman. The Angler gives the trout a
fair battle with the artificial fly. Comparing live-bait fishing to
artificial fly angling is like comparing blacksmithry to jewel
working, bronco breaking to genteel horsemanship, or buccaneering to
yachting.

=Refinement of Angling.=--Angling is fishing governed by rules of
chivalry--correct tackle, limit in the catch, and humane treatment of
the game.

=Landing the Fish.=--"The surest way to take the fish is give her
leave to play and yield her line."--Quarles, _Shepheard's Eclogues_,
1644. Subdue a big fish before you try to land him. Don't be in a
hurry. Give him line, but keep it taut (not tight), and don't become
excited. Don't try to yank him out of his element or pull him through
the line guides. Raise the rod tip over the back of your head, and
don't grab the line--guide the game into the landing net or up to the
gaff. Take your time. Be glad if the fish escapes. His life is as
important as yours--to him, at least. Besides, you'd soon tire of
fishing if you never lost a fish. "The play's the thing" in angling,
anyway, because, as an Angler, you can buy fish cheaper than you can
catch them, if you play fair--if you're not of the gentry that judge
the day by quantity instead of quality. Some of the greatest Anglers
are the poorest fish killers, but to them one fish correctly captured
on chivalric tackle means more than a tubful of butchered victims
means to the unenlightened bungler. Contrast and conditions count for
something in everything. If there were no cloudy days we'd never
correctly value the sunshine. Method in the pursuit, appropriateness
of the equipment, and uncertainty in the catch, wholly distasteful to
the selfish neophyte, are thoroughly appreciated by the Angler.

=Ancient Angling.=--One of the most ancient literary works on fishing,
perhaps the most ancient of all really known volumes on the subject,
is _Hauleutics of Oppian_, the work of a Greek poet, A.D. 198, from
which many articles on fishing and angling, thought to be modern, have
been taken. Athenæus tells us that several writers wrote treatises or
poems on fishing centuries before the Christian era.

=Old Angling Books.=--1486--_The Booke of St. Albans_; by Dame Juliana
Berners. 1590--_Booke of Fishing with Hook and Line_; by Leonard
Mascall. 1596--_Hawking. Hunting, Fowling and Fishing_; by W. C.
Faukener. 1606--_Booke of Angling or Fishing_; by Samuel Gardner, D.D.
1651--_Art of Angling_; by Thomas Barker (the second edition of this
book, published in 1657, was issued under the title of _Barker's
Delight_). 1652--_Young Sportsman's Delight and Instructor in
Angling_, etc.; by Gervase Markham. 1653--_The Compleat Angler, or the
Contemplative Man's Recreation_, etc.; by Izaak Walton (the second
edition, almost rewritten by the author, appeared in 1655).
1662--_Experienced Angler, or Angling Improved_; by Robert Venables.
1676--_Angler's Delight_, etc.; by William Gilbert. 1681--_Angler's
Vade Mecum_; by Chetham. 1682--_Complete Troller_; by Nobles.
1696--_The True Art of Angling_; by J. S.

=Carrying the Rod.=--Joint your rod only when you reach the place of
angling, and take it apart again when you are ready to leave the water
for camp, unless the camp is on the edge of the lake or stream. When
angling along thickly wooded banks, carry the rod in front of you, tip
first, pointing the tip through the bushes you penetrate; never pull
it after you. Fasten the hook on one of the reel bars, and then thrust
the rod's tip through the branches or shrubbery ahead of you when you
move along, casting here and there. This is not necessary when one
only moves a step or two, for then, if there be open space, the rod
and line may be held clear of the underbrush and branches. In all
cases keep the rod ahead of you. When disjointed, the rod pieces may
be held together by small rubber bands until the rod case is made use
of, but don't lay the rod away with the rubber bands intact, as the
rubber will bend the tip out of shape, dislodge the wood coating,
disturb the whipping, and tarnish the ferrules. Dr. E. F. Conyngham of
Bonner. Mont., doesn't like my notion of carrying the rod tip first.
The Doctor says he favors carrying it butt first with the tip trailing
behind. "I have fished with a fly for trout and salmon nearly forty
years in Europe and this continent," says the Doctor, "and never yet
saw an expert Angler carry a rod in the way described by Mr. Bradford.
That is just the proper caper to break tips. The rod in going through
brush should be carried butt forward; then the tip will trail as
easily as the tail on a dog, and furthermore, you can walk at good
speed without interference. In my many years of fly fishing I have had
one broken tip; a woman knocked it down and stepped on it. Luckily it
was lancewood, so I could repair it. What would have been my
predicament had the rod been of split bamboo?" Very good, Doctor. I
may be wrong but, I learned my way from my fathers of the angle--Seth
Green. John Harrington Keene, Frederick Mather, William C. Harris, _et
al._--when I was being taught first lessons in fly-fishing. Seth
Green, John Keene, and Harris personally advised me to carry the fly
rod tip in front of me, and each of the trio personally showed me the
method on the trout streams. Harris and Keene always carried their fly
rods tip first, and I have seen both these experts along the streams
many times during many years of personal fishing with both of these
Anglers. However, Dr. Conyngham must not be denied his view on the
subject. Just as there are famous wing shots who shoot with one eye
closed and other experts who give trigger with both eyes open, so in
angling, there are many practiced hands who disagree on the various
ways and means in fishing. I favor keeping my tip in front of me, and
while I shall never change this method, I refrain from condemning Dr.
Conyngham's contrastive way of carrying his tip. Charles Zibeon
Southard agrees with both the Doctor and me. He advises carrying the
tip ahead in the open and behind in the brush.

=The Angling World.=--"Angling takes us from the confusion, the filth,
and the social and moral degradation of the big cities and places us
in close contact with one of the most important divisions of human
labor--the cultivation of the soil, which is the real foundation of
all national wealth and true social happiness. Everything connected
with the land is calculated to foster the best and noblest feelings of
the soul and to give the mind the most lofty and sublime ideas of
universal nature. To men of contemplative habits the roaming along
brooks, rivers, lakes, and fields gives rise to the most refined
intellectual enjoyment. Such persons move in a world of their own and
experience joys and sorrows with which the world cannot meddle."--A.
L. H.

=Colorado Trout Streams.=--Colorado has six thousand miles of trout
streams.

=Angling Saves Words.=--"Contemplation and quietness! Will these words
soon be labeled in our dictionaries 'obsolete'? It would seem so; yet
there will be some use for them, among old-fashioned folk, as long as
the word 'angling' holds its place."--Willis Boyd Allen.

=Large-Trout Angling.=--Frank Brigg, of London. England, fishing in
New River, caught an eighteen-pound trout, the heaviest specimen of
trout ever taken in a London water.

=Speculation in Angling.=--"I often wonder if the basis of fishing is
not founded upon the element of chance, and whether fishing does not
fascinate because it is a species of gambling. To a degree it is a
hazard. You take your best tackle, select your choicest bait, and you
do more, for you pray to the goddess of success."--"Ancient Mariner."

=Economy in Angling.=--"Don't take more fish than you can use; if you
do, you take that which belongs to someone else."--"Tops'l."

=An Angling Classic.=--"Angling is the only sport that boasts the
honor of having given a classic [Izaak Walton's _The Compleat Angler_,
1653] to literature."--Henry van Dyke.

=How to Approach a Trout.=--" ... sense of hearing in all species of
fish is a matter of concussion on the surface of the water. Sit
motionless in a boat, and you may sing, "I Won't Go Home 'Til
Morning," or any other gala song, to the extreme high limit of your
voices, and the trout or any other fish will remain undisturbed, but,
scratch your toe upon the bottom of the boat, and presto! the pool is
as dead and barren as a burned prairie. Approach a pool from over the
bank with a careless tread, and when you reach it the trout are gone,
none know where. Crawl to the pool noiselessly on all fours and you
will find your trout reposing without fear of danger. The avoidance of
concussion is the great factor on a trout pool or stream in getting a
satisfactory creel. Slide, rather than step, in wading, and your
success will be greater."--Wm. C. Harris.

=Strike from the Reel or Hand?=--"The strike must be made with
sufficient force and no more. If insufficient, the hook will not
penetrate far enough to hold the fish in its subsequent struggles, and
if the force is excessive the gut will break at its weakest point, and
leave the fly and possibly one or more strands of gut in the trout's
jaws. The Angler should acquire the habit of striking from the reel,
_i.e._, without holding the line in the hand. Many old fishermen
prefer holding the line when striking, but it is at best a risky
proceeding, and too likely to result in a breakage of the gut."--F. M.
Halford, _The Dry-Fly Man's Handbook_. "Personally I never 'strike
from the reel' ... because less control is had over the line, likewise
the fish."--Charles Zibeon Southard, _Trout Fly-Fishing in America_. I
favor Mr. Halford's method--"strike from the reel"--in fly-fishing and
in weakfish fishing with light tackle. In heavy bait fishing, Mr.
Southard's strike with the "hand-held line" suits me.

=The Silver Hook.=--"There is a good deal of fun in thinking you are
going to have it."--New York _Press_. True; Walton says the Angler's
anticipation of fishing is as great a joy as the realization of it.

=Angling Ailment.=--"We never get over the fishing fever; it is a
delightful disease, and, thank the Lord, there is no cure."--Ira W.
Moore.

=Angling and Nature.=--"Association with men of the world narrows the
heart; communion with nature expands it."--Jean Paul Richter.

=Angling and Mathematics.=--"Angling may be said to be so much like
the Mathematics, that it can ne'er be fully learnt; at least not so
fully, but that there will still be more new experiments left for the
tryal of other men that succeed us."--Izaak Walton, _The Compleat
Angler_, 1653.

=Tendency of Angling.=--"I am now over 76 [years in age] and owe my
life to fishing, and I find the tendency of fishing is to make one
careful, artful, patient, and practical."--"Watcher."

=Angling a Science.=--"Angling is a science, not merely a pastime. It
will broaden you and start your boy in a manly sport that will draw
him to the country instead of to the dance hall, to the fields and
streams instead of to the pool room."--"Greenhorn."

=Fly vs. Worm.=--"That fly-fishing is clean, and free from the
muscular efforts of mountain-climbing; that it is usually rewarded
with larger fish than those taken with a worm; that it has a freedom,
a jollity, a certain broad, wide-spaced exhilaration, I willingly
admit. But, the humbler, old-fashioned method has a charm of its own
which I am not ready to forego."--Willis Boyd Allen.

="Ye Gods and Little Fishes."=--"When we have become familiar with the
great cities with their bewildering sights and distracting sounds, the
finest things remain to be discovered, and these discoveries must be
made as we stand open-eyed in the presence of God's workmanship. Hills
and streams, woods and flowers, bees and birds and butterflies, the
flora and fauna of this earth where we have our home for a little
time, should, somehow, be brought into the life of the child. The boy
who grows up into manhood without being privileged to know the world
of nature by personal contact has been robbed. He may be intelligent
in many things and a useful member of society, but he has missed out
of life some of its deepest satisfactions and purest joys. Indeed,
such an one is not symmetrically educated, and is quite likely to be
put to shame as the years pass by."--Lathan A. Crandall, _Days in the
Open_.

=Angling Is its Own Reward.=--"No other sportsman brings home more
from his sport than he takes to it than the fisherman. His basket is
heavy with present food in the morning, and loaded with future food in
the afternoon, with an appetite and a sleepetite that requires three
days to satisfy."--Hy. Julius.

=Ideal Angling Time.=--The last two weeks in June--what lovelier
period for brook trout fishing in the rich flower-lined mountain
streams? When does the wild shrub smell sweeter than now, the wind
blow more balmily, the songbirds trill sweeter, and the spotted trout
bite better?

=Landing the Trout.=--The proper time to spend in landing a fish all
depends upon the condition of your fishing ground. Lead your prize
away from obstructions, keep the line taut, and do not nervously hurry
the play. Take your time.

=Fishes' Feeding-Time.=--Fishes are said to bite better between the
new moon and the first quarter; or between the last quarter and the
change.

=Calmness in Angling.=--Don't hurry a large fish. Subdue him as far
from you as possible.

=Shadowless Angling.=--Never let your shadow fall upon the angling
water. Keep the sun in front of you.

=Striking and Hooking.=--Nothing is more difficult to learn about
fly-fishing than the art of striking or hooking the game.

=The Fishless Fisherman.=--"You took a day off from your work and went
fishing? Have any luck?" "Certainly. A day off is luck enough."--New
York _American_.

=Angling Spirit.=--"It is the way we do things and the spirit in which
we prosecute our endeavors that counts. The man who takes the day to
go fishing on the great ocean or in the forest and can commune with
Nature can be as good a Christian as the best man that ever entered
the portals of a church, cathedral, or synagogue."--"Nature Factor."

=All Sports in Angling.=--"The sport that sums up dancing, song and
picture, athletics and all games of chance is angling. The waves make
you dance, all pictures roll before you, any chance can win the pool,
and every fishing boat is a _sängerfest_."--B. M. Briggs.

=Early Trout Angling.=--"Don't let anyone tell you of the folly of
trout fishing in early April. It's great sport, and if you're skillful
enough to get a few of the gamest and wisest fish that swims at this
time of the year your success will be complete in May and June, when
the ideal weather comes."--H. T. Walden.

=Skill vs. Kill.=--"To qualify as a sportsman in the taking of any
kind of game, a man must show much more enthusiasm in skill rather
than in the kill, always remembering to give or inflict the least pain
possible on the game taken by his skill."--Wes' Wood.

=Rainbow Trout Angling.=--"I get harder play with a three-pound
rainbow trout than with a maskinonge of twenty-five pounds. I have
caught only a few rainbow trout. The first one I ever caught was three
years ago in the Esopus Creek in the Catskills. I felt somewhat
relieved when I had him in the net. He was the gamest fish for his
size I ever hooked, and I have killed ten and twelve pound salmon on a
trout rod. The rainbow trout is first cousin to the lordly
salmon."--M. J. Doyle.

=Secret of Angling.=--"Fishing is more than catching. Its pleasures
are the whole outdoors. Appreciation is the secret of the
lure."--Theodore Macklin.

=Limit in Angling.=--"It is very foolish for Anglers, when they get
more fishes than they want, to even give them away; far better it
would be for them to stop fishing when they have caught enough for
themselves, and give the fish a chance."--George Hartley.

=Age of Angling.=--"The allurement of fishing is as old as the granite
mountains of the Andes. Down through the ages of the past, even from
the day of the anthropophagi, comes to us the fact that all the world
rejoices in the gentle art of fishing. Fishing--the one word that
opens up to our understanding the philosophy of nature--is the
fundamental basis of our civilization."--David Jones.

=Gentility in Angling.=--"Sportsmanship abhors greed and all
vulgarity."--H. W. Wack.

=Angling Clears the Brain.=--"When we are confused and harried by the
turmoil of modern life, our heads and our hearts aching with its
complex problems, its exigent demands, its rebuffs, and its bitter
disappointments, let us turn once more to the forest and meadow, the
peaceful stream, with the fleecy clouds or overhanging boughs kindly
tempering the rays of the summer sun; let us drop our pens, abandon
for the nonce our manuscript, our ledgers, or the stock reports of the
day, and 'go a-fishing.'"--Willis Boyd Allen.

=Up and Down Stream.=--"I fish up stream (and I think this best) and
down stream and across stream--according to wind and time and weather,
etc., and the sun. I have found I can get the larger fish in upstream
fishing; but there are pools one can't get the flies to--the likely
places--from below, nor yet from either side. When I come to such a
pool I get above and cover it well by casting across stream from
me--the sun being opposite--and let my flies float down, drawing them
the while across current with a twitching motion, as an insect
struggling to swim across. It is a deadly method if well done and gets
the big ones too. I hold the line of course in my left hand, and as I
gently raise the rod with my right, I take in line with my left, thus
at all times having full control and ready for a strike."--Ernest L.
Eubank.

=Fly-Fishing First.=--"Fly-fishing comes first, then comes bait
casting with the fly rod; third, still fishing; fourth, casting of
live bait with the short rod from the reel, and last, if not entirely
without the pale of true sportsmanship, the use of the plug."--Rayx.

=Fly Rod and Bait Rod.=--"It takes some skill to keep sixty feet of
line in the air when fly casting, and requires free space for the back
cast. It is fascinating work and requires more delicacy in handling a
fly rod than a bait rod. The fly rod, especially in Southern Missouri
waters, lands more fish during the day than the bait rod, but the
latter lands larger fish. The bait caster makes fewer casts on account
of reeling in the line after each cast, but the water is more
effectively covered. One has to be a judge of the water and determine
which method should be used. In the northern lakes bait casting is
far superior in results to fly casting."--M. J. Brennan.

=Land and Water.=--"You're natural when fishing, and unnatural on
shore. Fishing rubs the barnacles off your natural self, and makes
your bodyship sail more easily."--B. M. Briggs.

=First Record of Angling.=--"The first authentic record of angling
appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, computed to be about 1500
years before Christ, where the Lord asked Job: 'Canst thou take out a
fish with the hook?'"--John Ryan.

=Roman Angling.=--The walls of Pompeii are adorned with angling
scenes.

CHAPTER XXI

TROUT FLIES

"To make several flies
For the several skies.
That shall kill in despite of all weathers."

CHARLES COTTON.

=Weight of Flies.=--"Flies do not soon get tired; ... they are light;
the wind carries them. An ounce of flies was once weighed, and
afterwards counted; and it was found to comprise no less than six
thousand two hundred and sixty-eight."--Victor Hugo, _The Toilers of
the Sea_.

=The Dry-Fly.=--"Upon the curling _surface_ let it glide, with natural
motion from thy hand supplied."--Unknown Author. The italics in the
word surface are ours. The dry artificial fly must swim on the
surface, must fly upstream, must have no companion fly, must keep dry
by sailing in the air between actual casts, and must attract the fish
by minutely mimicking the living fly both in the air and on (not in)
the water.

=Vegetable Flies.=--Bearded seed of the wild oat and a silvery willow
leaf have been used successfully as artificial flies for brook trout
and black bass.

=To Carry Flies.=--Do not use your large fly-book when wading. Put a
half dozen seasonable patterns in your hatband, and a dozen more in a
little book that will not bulge your pocket.

=Variety in Flies.=--You can never carry too many trout flies on your
trip. Fill your fly-book and stick them all over the crown of your
hat. Trout do not like the same fly at all times any more than you are
fond of feeding on one sort of meat.

=Clumsy Flies.=--Most trout flies are too large, and they frighten
more trout than they attract.

=A New Fly.=--" ... an altogether original fly, unheard of, startling,
will often do great execution in an overfished pool."--Henry van Dyke.

=The Floating Fly.=--"The floating fly seemed to have the effect of
arousing the trout to action at once. During the week I estimate that
there was an average of ten rises to the dry-fly to every one to the
same fly wet."--Emlyn M. Gill.

=Fishing the Dry-Fly.=--"The dry-fly is clearly out of place on the
wet-fly water as the wet-fly is on the dry-fly stream. After all, it
is only in the style of deceiving and hooking fish that dry-fly and
wet-fly Anglers ... assuming both to be good sportsmen ... can much
differ. In nearly all other fly-fishing matters they must naturally be
at one. It has already been said that the dry-fly is quite out of
place in many trout streams. The dry-fly streams, though they have
increased of late years, are still and ever must be in a decided
minority. The dry-fly Angler is not, as a rule, a very early riser. He
can do nothing without natural flies, and in my experience there are
very few duns or other water-flies out till nine or even ten o'clock
in the morning."--A. B. Dewar, _The Book of the Dry-Fly_.

=American Dry-Flies.=--"Whirling Dun, Wickham's Fancy, Pale Evening
Dun, Jenny Spinner, (Hackle Fly), Willow Fly (Hackle Fly), Orange Fish
Hawk (Hackle Fly), Olive Dun, Soldier Palmer (Hackle Fly). Silver
Sedge, Red Spinner, White Miller, Coachman. Black Gnat."--Emlyn M.
Gill, _Practical Dry-Fly Fishing_.

=Brazilian Flies.=--Brazilian flies, costing seven dollars a ton, are
used to feed fishes in England.

=Fresh Flies.=--"When trout are taking the fly on the surface, and are
not simply feeding on the larvæ as they swim upward, a brand new fly
is more likely to catch a fish than one which has been a great deal
used. I always use May-flies dressed on eyed hooks, have a goodly
supply, and when one gets so wet as to necessitate a considerable
amount of labor in the drying of it, off it comes, and is stuck in my
cap to dry at its leisure. Of course it is rather wasting to the
cast--this frequent changing flies--and no little trouble to those
whose fingers are all thumbs, and whose eyesight is becoming dim, but
it is far less trouble to change the fly than to dry it when
thoroughly soaked."--_London Fishing Gazette._

=Rocky Mountain Trout Flies.=--First, Royal Coachman; second, Gray
Hackle with yellow body. Then: Black Gnat, Ginger Quill, Cowdung,
Blue Quill. Grizzly King, Shad Fly, and Stone Fly. Hooks, No. 6 to 14.

=Early Season Flies.=--Dark Stone, Codun, Alder. Bowman, Black May,
Beauty, Ben Bent, Blue Bottle. Hare's Ear.

=All-Season Flies.=--Alder, Gray Palmer, Green Palmer, Ginger Palmer,
March Brown, Reuben Wood. Professor, White Miller, Coachman, Royal
Coachman. Dark Coachman, Codun, Scarlet Ibis, Brown Palmer. Red
Palmer, Grizzly King, Queen of the Water, King of the Water, Brown
Hen, Black Gnat. Early in the season use hooks No. 6 to 8; later, No.
8 to 12. Use the small patterns on streams, and the large patterns on
lakes and rough waters; and, as I have repeatedly suggested, when the
day is bright and where the water is clear, use the small flies of
plain colors; on dark days and in the evening, use the large bright
flies.

=Dyed-Feather Flies.=--"Some Anglers say no dyed feathers should be
used in tying flies, that they fade to a damaging extent. We have
always found dyed feathers practicable."--_London Rod and Gun._

=The Brown Hackle.=--"Fasten red (crimson red) wool round a hook, and
fit into the wool two feathers which grow under a cock's
wattles."--Ælian, third century, A.D. "Out of the thousands of trout
that I have caught, it is safe to say that over 70 per cent. were
taken with the Brown Hackle."--C. T. Ramsey. Two hundred Anglers,
representing all parts of the United States, contributed fly-fishing
chapters to _Favorite Flies_. Mary Orvis Marbury's wonderful volume
on artificial flies and fly-fishing, and 130 of them declared the
Brown Hackle their favorite pattern. "I had supposed that the Red
Hackle was an imitation of the small red caterpillar, but the veteran
Nessmuk affirms that it resembles nothing below or above. It is his
favorite bug, and that settles the question."--H. C. Wilcox, _Favorite
Flies_.

CHAPTER XXII

CASTING THE FLY

"Ah, tired man! Go find a spot
Somewhere in solitude;
Take hammock, books and tackle
And wearing apparel crude.
And live, if but the shortest time.
A wild life in the wood
A-fishing, reading, dreaming.
And you'll declare it good."

J. MILTON HARKINS.

=Up and Down Stream.=--English Anglers wade upstream, and some Anglers
in America do the same. There is good reason in this manner of wading
on the part of the old country's Anglers, because where they practice
it the water is quiet and not altogether shallow. In America, where
our trout waters are rapid and foaming as they rush along, it is not
practical as a general rule to wade upstream. The walking is
difficult, you become wet, the trout see you notwithstanding they lie
face up stream, your flies drift toward you, it is hard to keep the
line from being slack all the time, the flies sink too often, and
altogether you spoil the chances of creeling whatever is takable in
the stream. On still, barely-flowing, deep waters a line may be cast
up or down stream.

=Down Stream.=--"There is much diversity of opinion about the manner
of fishing, whether up or down the stream. The great majority of
Anglers, both in Europe and this country, favor the latter method, and
very few the former."--John J. Brown.

=Motion of the Fly.=--In clear, smooth water let the fly sink a
little; then move it along with a quick motion.

=Manner in Fly-Fishing.=--"The manner in which the flies are fished
distinguishes the fly-fisherman from the mere fly-caster, whether or
no the fly-caster, as such, be expert or otherwise."--Samuel G. Camp,
_The Fine Art of Fishing_.

=Fly-Casting Practice.=--"When the learner becomes accustomed to
handling his rod, he must try to perfect himself in two matters of
great importance--accuracy and delicacy. Place a small piece of paper
fifteen or twenty feet away, and aim at making the knot in the end of
the line fall easily and quietly upon it. Your efforts will be aided
if you will raise the point of the rod a trifle just as the forward
impulse of the line is spent, and the line itself is straightened in
the air for an instant in front. This is a novel kind of target
shooting, but its usefulness will be realized when the Angler finds it
necessary to drop his flies lightly just over the head of some wary
trout."--Ripley Hitchcock.

=The Magic Fly.=--"Reader, did you ever throw the fly to tempt the
silvery denizen of the lake or river to his destruction? Have you
watched him, as it skimmed like a living insect along the surface,
dart from his hiding-place and rush upon the tempting but deceitful
morsel? Have you noticed his astonishment when he found the hook was
in his jaw? Have you watched him as he bent your slender rod 'like a
reed shaken by the wind,' in his efforts to free himself, and then
have you reeled him to your hand and deposited him in your basket as
the spoil of your right arm? If you have not, leave the dull,
monotonous, everyday things around you and try it."--S. S. Hammond.

=Lifelike Fly.=--Don't simply drag the fly through the water. Move
your wrist gently up and down; then the lure will look and act like a
living insect, not a bunch of hair or feather.

=Nature-like Fly.=--"In fly-fishing the lure must always be in
motion." Excepting, say I, the instant when it first drops upon the
pool. I have caught many of my largest trout--sometimes two at a
single cast--the moment the fly touched the water.

=Dry-Fly Success.=--"There are no insurmountable obstacles in the way
of becoming a successful dry-fly Angler that do not confront the user
of the sunken fly."--Emlyn M. Gill, _Practical Dry-Fly Fishing_.

=Correct Fly-Fishing Line.=--"Nothing in reference to fly-fishing can
be answered with such ease and confidence as the question what line
should be used. Unquestionably the enameled waterproofed line, and no
other."--Henry P. Wells.

=Sunken Fly.=--"Every bass fly-fisherman knows that to let his flies
sink for a depth of six or eight inches is alluring. Under certain
conditions, when after trout, to let the flies descend for a depth of
two feet before retrieving, is to tempt some sleepy old monster to
attack. "--O. W. Smith.

=The Strike.=--"The moment the trout seizes the artificial fly, it is
as far in his mouth as it ever will be; therefore, you cannot strike
too quickly after you have seen or felt the trout."--D. W. Cross.

CHAPTER XXIII

TACKLE TALKS

"Slight lines of hair surprise the finny prey."

POPE.

"See that all things be right
For 'tis a very spite
To want tools, when a man goes afishing."

CHARLES COTTON.

=To Extract Hooks.=--Cut the snell free and push the hook on through,
depressing the upper end so as to bring the point out as near as
possible to where it went in. Don't try to pull the hook back.

=Knots in Rodwood.=--Don't switch a light rod sideways. The maker may
have purposely put a knot to one side, and this would cause the rod to
snap.

=Function of the Rod.=--"The essential and most important office of a
rod is that which is exhibited after the fish is hooked ... in other
words, in the playing and landing of the fish. In practical angling
the act of casting, either with fly or bait, is preliminary and
subordinate to the real uses of the rod. The poorest fly-rod made will
cast a fly thirty or forty feet, which is about as far as called for
in ordinary angling. But it is the continuous spring and yielding
resistance of the bent rod, constantly maintained, that not only tires
out the fish, but protects the weak snell or leader from breakage, and
prevents a weak hold of the hook from giving way; and this is the
proper function of the rod."--James A. Henshall, _Favorite Fish and
Fishing_.

=Silkworm Gut.=--"The features to be sought are good color, a hard,
wiry texture, roundness, even diameter from end to end, and length.
From these are to be inferred the strength and wearing quality of the
gut, which are what we wish to estimate. From the color we infer
whether the gut is fresh or stale, its probable strength in relation
to its thickness, and, in part, its wearing quality. In all these
respects fresh gut is superior to old gut of original equal quality.
The color can best be judged from the fuzzy end of the hank, and
should be clear and glassy, and by no means dull or yellowish. The
wearing quality of the gut may be judged partly by its color, partly
by its springiness when bent and released, and also by its hardness.
It should feel like wire."--Henry P. Wells, _Fly-Rods and Fly-Tackle_.

=Ronalds' Rod.=--"The best materials are ash for the stock, lancewood
for the middle, and bamboo for the tip."--Alfred Ronalds (1836).

=South's Rod.=--Theophilus South, in his _Fly Fisher's Text Book_
(London, 1845), prefers ash to willow for butts, hickory for middle
joints, and favors tips made from lancewood, cane, and whalebone,
spliced together--four and even five pieces in a tip.

=Lightest Rod.=--Benjamin S. Whitehead fly-fishes with a
gold-and-ivory-mounted split bamboo rod weighing one and eleven
sixteenths ounces.

=Tapered Line.=--"The line for dry-fly fishing should be either
single-tapered or double-tapered; the fine end of the taper will make
more of an inconspicuous connection with the leader and with a tapered
line casting ability is doubled."--Robert Page Lincoln.

=Knife and Shears.=--A small pair of scissors attached to a string and
fastened to the Angler's coat are useful companions along the stream.
They are more easily operated than a knife; they save time, and while
you may do with them nearly all that can be done with a knife, they
will render a service that cannot be obtained from the single blade. A
knife should always be carried, nevertheless, and the proper one for
the trout Angler is that newly invented thing which requires no
finger-nail work and which is made ready for service by a mere
pressure of the thumb on the top of the handle.

=Trouting Outfit.=--Here's a plain, practical, reasonable-price outfit
with no unnecessary items: A four-ounce lancewood fly-rod, a common
rubber click reel to hold twenty-five yards of fine waterproof silk
line, a seventy-five cent cane landing-net, small and with no metal on
it, a seventy-five cent creel, a dozen of the best made and
highest-priced assorted trout-flies, a pair of waders, and a dollar's
worth of the finest and best made silk gut leaders.

=Rod Dressing.=--To whip rings or guides on the rod use silk twist,
drawing the final end through a few coils of the whipping by means of
a loose loop. To revarnish, wipe off all grease stains, and dress
lightly down with the best copal. To reblacken brasses, mix a little
lampblack with spirit varnish. Dress once or twice and let the
dressing thoroughly dry before using the copal.

=Buy your Tackle.=--The old Anglers tied their flies themselves, and,
in fact, made all their rods and tackle, save, perhaps, lines. To-day
few Anglers think of tying flies or preparing any tackle, owing to the
expertness and moderate terms on the part of dealers. It is much
cheaper to buy tackle outright, as it is to buy gun shells ready
loaded.

=To Remove a Ferrule.=--Hold it over the flame of a spirit lamp or any
flame until the cement is softened. If it has been pinned on, take a
large needle, break it off squarely, put it on the pin, and strike
just hard enough to set the pin below the ferrule, then warm and
remove.

=The Joints.=--If your rod joints go together harshly or do not come
apart with ease, oil them lightly. See that no sand or any dirt gets
in the ferrules. To take the joints apart easily when they are tightly
set, gently warm the metal.

=Rubber Bands.=--Little rubber bands are practical items of a
sportsman's outfit. One real service they render is in holding the
fly-rod joints together when you travel through the woods after your
day's fishing.

=The Rod as a Measure.=--"The size of a fish can be found out very
easily, simply by having the butt of the fishing rod marked off in
inches up to two feet."--John Koltzan.

=Position of the Reel.=--The reel of a bait-rod should be on the top
side of the rod, in front of the handle; that of a fly-rod, on the
under side below the handle.

=Cork Handle.=--To avoid blisters on the hand, have the handle of your
rod covered with cork instead of cane, twine, or rubber. It will
prevent the hand from slipping, is pleasant to the touch, and very
light in weight.

=Smooth Ferrules.=--Before jointing your rod, oil the male ferrules
with vaseline, or by rubbing them on the back of your neck. This will
prevent the joints from becoming tight after the day's sport.

=Be Particular.=--The finer the tackle the fairer the sport.

=Care of the Rod.=--See that your rod-case is thoroughly dry before
you put your rod in it, and always tie the case-strings loosely or you
will have bent tips and joints.

=Tackle Tells.=--"The quality of gameness in a fish is best determined
by the character of the tackle used. A brook trout on a striped bass
rod, or a black bass on a tarpon rod, could not, in either case,
exhibit its characteristic gameness, or afford any sport to the
Angler. Excellent sport with small fishes, however, is now rendered
possible owing to the advent of the very light trout rod. It should
not be considered beneath the dignity of an Angler to cast the fly for
a rock bass, a blue-gill, or a croppie, with a three-ounce rod.
Certainly it is just as sportsmanlike as to fish for six-inch brook
trout in a meadow brook or a mountain rill."--James A. Henshall.

=Rust Preventive.=--Use animal oil free of salt on any metal--steel,
iron, brass, German silver, etc. Vaseline may be used on brass and
German silver; mercurial ointment on steel and iron. Don't use
ordinary vegetable oil.

=Telescopic Reel.=--An English reel, the telescope winch, can be
expanded to carry a double quantity of line or less at will. By its
means a trout reel becomes a salmon reel or bass reel or vice versa as
you please.

=Fine Tackle.=--"His tackle for bricht, airless days is o' gossamere;
and at a wee distance aff you think he's fishin' without ony line
ava."--The Ettrick Shepherd.

=Dressing for Silk Wrappings.=--Cobbler's wax dissolved in spirits of
wine. Paint it on with a feather.

=Line Dressing.=--Deer's fat solidifies at a higher temperature than
most fats and will cling well.

=Black Leader and Snell.=--"For trout, use a black leader and have
your hooks snelled with black gut."--"Country Pumpkin."

=Thin Line.=--"The thinner the line I use the more fish I catch."--A.
Hamilton, Jr.

=Cocoon Lines.=--The Japanese now make almost invisible fishing lines
from cocoons. The silk threads are boiled in oil and glue and
calendered under heavy pressure. The fish cannot see these lines, and
they are effective against the gamest species.

=Enameled Line.=--"In casting from the reel I use a soft silk line,
but I prefer to strip cast. In strip casting it is absolutely
necessary to use a good enameled line. The reason I prefer strip
casting is that a long, slender rod can be used. No other line than an
enameled one can be stripped into the bottom of the boat and permitted
to run out rapidly without snarling."--"Greenhorn."

=Making a Camp Rod.=--Surgeon's plaster, in tin spools, or
electrician's adhesive tape, are serviceable in many ways in camp. You
can even build a makeshift casting rod if you've forgotten or lost the
real article. Fasten the reel to a stiff section of any fishing rod or
a straight light-weight tree switch with the tape. Screw eyes or small
staples will answer for the running guides, but finer guides and a
cleaner-looking tip guide may be made with fine wire and the tape.

=Tackle and Time.=--Correct fishing tackle is as necessary in the
hands of the tyro as with the practical Angler, but the beginner
mustn't expect tackle, however appropriate, to be all that is required
to make toward perfection in angling; experience and practice are
equally important. As an apprentice in carpentry who may have all the
tools of his master still needs experience and actual practice, so the
young Angler fully equipped with good tackle must serve an
apprenticeship on the waters.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE ANGLER'S KITCHEN

"The reputation that trout enjoy as a food-fish is partly due to
the fact that they are usually cooked over an open fire.... The
real reason why food cooked over an open fire tastes so good to us
is because we are really hungry when we get it."--HENRY VAN DYKE.

"Moses, the friend of God--Lev. xi., 9, Deut. xiv., 9,--appointed
fish to be the chief diet for the best commonwealth that ever yet
was. The mightiest feasts have been of fish."--WALTON.

"... and fish the last
Food was that He on earth did taste."

W. BASSE.

"If you eat your kind, we will eat you."--BENJ. FRANKLIN.

=Catching vs. Cooking.=--"I care little whether I catch a fish on a
No. 6 or a No. 5 hook, or whether I use a $3 reel or a $2.99 one.
Whether I use bay leaves, or cloves, or mushrooms, or tomato sauce, or
tartar sauce in preparing my fish is more important. Game is improved
by hanging for a while, but fish should be eaten as soon as possible
after being caught."--"Piscator."

=Fish as Food.=--The great variety of flavors in fish food makes an
ichthyological diet more palatable than quadruped meat, and therefore
more healthful because only that which is eaten with a relish is
digestible and nourishing.

=Forest Fish Sauce.=--Use a wild rose berry to make a sauce for fish
food in camp.

=Carp.=--The carp, celebrated in ancient song and story as the meat of
kings, is as savory as the trout or any other fish species if cooked
and served correctly.

=Preserving Fish.=--Don't pack fish in wet grass or anything damp. Use
dry straw.

=Frozen Fish.=--Don't freeze fish unless you keep it frozen until
quite ready for the fire, as it spoils soon after thawing.

=Scaling Fish.=--Use an ordinary horse currycomb.

CHAPTER XXV

CARE AND BREEDING OF TROUT

"The water, more productive than the earth, Nature's store-house,
in which she locks up her wonders, is the eldest daughter of the
creation, the element upon which the spirit of God did first
move."--IZAAK WALTON.

=Transporting Trout.=--To bring your fish home, first clean them
carefully, taking pains to remove that little dark blood streak along
the backbone. Then, after wiping them dry, pack them in ferns,
separately, and free from ice. Never send your fish home by express;
take them with you. A box cannot be checked on the train. Use an old
packing trunk. In this you can also transport your heavy
outfit--wading boots, oilskins, landing-net, etc.

=Trout in Captivity.=--Trout in artificial ponds should be fed three
or four times a week in the winter time during the very warmest part
of the day. There is no natural food in artificial ponds, and feeding
is necessary in order to keep the big fish from eating their small
companions. In natural trout ponds fed by springs so much care need
not be exercised in winter. Air holes need not be cut in any ice that
may form, as the springs afford a proper temperature, and but little
food, if any, need be given the fish.

=Killing the Trout.=--Kill your trout the instant they are landed;
don't let them suffer slow death. The game deserves humane treatment,
and the meat tastes better by quick killing.

=Trout Destroyers.=--Eels are ruinous to trout. They eat trout spawn,
and they should be removed from all trout waters.

=Live Frozen Trout.=--Trout packed in ice for several days and carried
forty miles by stagecoach and two hundred and fifty miles by railway
(Feb., 1914) from the State of Washington to Montana, says the
_Lewiston Democrat_ of Butte, Montana, came to life and swam spryly
when placed in a tank of water at the end of their journey--Hennessy's
meat store at Butte.

=Water Plants.=--Aquatic plants, besides affording protection and
shade to the fishes, supply oxygen to the water.

=Growth of Trout.=--"Mr. Tomkin of Polgaron put some small river
trout, 2-1/2 inches in length, into a newly made pond. He took some of
them out the second year, above twelve inches in length; the third
year, he took one out of sixteen inches in length; and the fourth
year, one of twenty-five inches in length: this was in 1734."--Carew's
_Survey of Cornwall_.

=Ducks Eat Trout.=--Arthur A. Woodford and S. W. Eddy, of Avon, Conn.,
say that ducks eat trout and destroy the trout's breeding places by
digging in the banks along the ponds and streams.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE ANGLER'S CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR

And let your garments russet be or gray.
Of colour darke, and hardest to descry.

_Pleasures of Angling._

=Hobnail Footwear.=--Most any boot or shoe can be used for wading the
trout streams, but a special selection is always best for every sort
of purpose. Rubber, canvas, and leather are employed in the making of
the fisherman's footwear. The hobnail heel-and-sole pattern is the
correct article for use in swift-running water. The hobnail
recommended above all others is the common, cheap soft-iron hobnail
with corrugated head; carry a package in your tackle box.

=Repairing Waders.=--Patch holes in rubber boots and rubber stockings,
etc., by covering the holes with thin sheet rubber, cementing this
with a mixture of black rubber dissolved in spirits of turpentine.

=Drying Rubber Boots.=--Fill 'em full of hot bran.

=Clothing.=--Sack coats, heavy trousers, a stout vest, all with plenty
of large pockets. In color the garments should be gray, drab, or
brown.

=Hat.=--A soft felt of gray shade.

=Boots and Shoes.=--Brown leather.

=Waders.=--Leather shoes with holes in the sides or canvas shoes for
summer. Rubber boots or wading trousers for cold weather.

=Woolen and Rubber Clothing.=--Good quality woolen will shed rain for
hours. Wear rubber outer garments in a wet brushy trail.

CHAPTER XXVII

LITTLE CASTS

=The Fingerling Fisher.=--It is sad to see a man with his creel full
of trout each not over the size of a lady's penknife. This character
has a photograph made of himself with the fingerlings held in front of
him so as to make them appear of legal size; this he sends to friends
in the city with glowing accounts of his catch of "a hundred speckled
beauties in one day."

=Tent Waterproofing.=--Sugar of lead and alum.

=Woodcraft.=--A good, simple way to find a road or dwelling, if you
are lost in the woods, is to follow down a stream.

=Destroying the Streams.=--Discourage the indiscriminate cutting down
of trees. The destruction of forest land means the drying up of trout
waters and the waste of drinking water.

=The Bungler.=--Bragging of ungentle catches, untruths about the size
of a specimen, and non-ichthyological nonsense about the mystery of a
species--unnatural history such as cheap fiction writers indulge
in--by bungling would-be fishermen annoy the practical man and puzzle
the earnest tyro. The record of honest sport is entertaining and
instructive.

=Discrimination.=--Do not worry if the fish are small so long as they
are of legal size; reduce your tackle. A vest-pocket watch keeps just
as good time as a town-hall clock.

=Sportsmanship.=--Chivalry to his companion and humane treatment to
the game he pursues are the Angler's axioms.

=Giving Fishes to Neighbors.=--Don't give your neighbors part of your
catch. They won't appreciate it. They'll throw them away in most
cases. If they cook and eat them they suffer the belief that they are
doing you a favor. Most recipients of fishes think the specimens too
small, or that they have too many bones, or that they are too thin,
too tough, too hard to scale, etc. They'd rather have a
bought-and-paid-for cold-storage cod of ten pounds than a freshly
caught brook trout presented by an Angler friend.

=Not All of Fishing to Fish.=--"The fisherman whose catching of many
fish causes him to forget his surroundings, blinds his eyes to the
beauties of Nature, and deadens his ears to the music of the wild, is
no Angler."--O. W. Smith.

CHAPTER XXVIII

BORROWED LINES

"Oh I could wish the lord to say
That all the twelve months
Should be May."

GEORGE BORROW.

"I borrow no man's tackle."--"FRANK FORESTER."

=Nature.=--"Solitude has its charm and its reward and Nature offers to
mankind the proper blessings, be they indulged in with care and
consideration. The mind that has been oppressed by following
civilization's rut will find ample comfort in the solitude given man
by Nature."--R. P. L., _The Sportsmen's Review_.

=Save the Fishes.=--"We who love wild life and long ago abandoned the
many instruments of extermination and who have come to a more
considerate mode of recreation should do all in our power to
discourage its destruction and to encourage the propagation of the
wild life which has been so generously and graciously given us by our
Creator. Only extremists insist on terrible slaughter of fishes,
birds, and quadrupeds."--E. M. Hermann.

"=Improvement.="--"No building enterprise, no 'betterment' ever spares
a tree. Insects and lack of care kill what 'improvement'
leaves."--New York _Evening World_, Aug. 18, 1914.

=Jesus the Fisherman.=--"Had not the Saviour of Gennesaret understood
fishermen's signs, such as the riff on the water, the schooling of the
fishes, the hovering gulls, there would have been no miraculous catch
of fishes."--Charles Hallock.

=Society where None Intrudes.=--"I had pined so much, in the dust and
heat of the great town, for trees and fields, and running waters, and
the sounds of country life, and the air of country winds, that never
more could I grow weary of these soft enjoyments."--Blackmore, _Lorna
Doone_.

=The Call of the Wild.=--"Lying hidden away in the back of the brain
is the primitive longing for adventure and the tingle of the nerves
that awaits it. Under the veneer of what is called civilization lie
the racial and elemental passions, just as Mother Earth lies beneath
the asphalted streets of the city."--Adele M. Ballard.

=Gold Fishing.=--"When all green places have been destroyed in the
builder's lust of gain; when all the lands are but bricks and piles of
wood and iron; when there is no moisture anywhere and no rain ever
falls; when the sky is a vault of smoke and all the rivers reek with
poison; when forest and stream, the moor and meadow and all the old
green wayside beauty are things vanished and forgotten; when every
gentle, timid thing of brake and bush, of air and water, has been
killed because it robbed them of a berry or a fruit; when the earth
is one vast city, whose young children behold neither the green of the
field nor the blue of the sky, and hear no song but the hiss of the
steam, and know no music but the roar of the furnace; when the old
sweet silence of the countryside, and the old sweet sounds of waking
birds, and the old sweet fall of summer showers, and the grace of a
hedgerow bough, and the glow of the purple heather, and the note of
the cuckoo and cushat, and the freedom of waste and of woodland and
all things are dead and remembered of no man; then the world, like the
Eastern king, will perish miserably of famine and of drought, with
gold in its stiffened hands, and gold in its withered lips and gold
everywhere; gold that the people can neither eat nor drink, gold that
cares nothing for them, but mocks them horribly; gold for which their
fathers sold peace, and health, and holiness, and beauty; gold that is
one vast grave."--Ouida.

=Heaven.=--"My heart is fixed firm and stable in the belief that
ultimately the sunshine and the summer, the flowers and the azure sky,
shall become, as it were, interwoven into man's existence. He shall
take from all their beauty and enjoy their glory."--Richard Jefferies,
_The Life of the Fields_.

=Modern Savagery.=--"Civilization is a nervous disease."--Clarence
King.

=Humanity.=--"Reading and writing are not educational, unless they
make us feel kindly towards all creatures."--Ruskin.

=Walton's Depth.=--"In Walton's angling works a child may wade and a
giant swim."--John Ryan.

"I shall stay ... [the reader] no longer than to wish him a rainy
evening to read this ... Discourse; and that, if he be an honest
Angler, the East wind may never blow when he goes
a-Fishing."--IZAAK WALTON, _The Compleat Angler_, 1653.

APPRECIATIONS:

PRINCETON, MAY 30, 1900--"The
Determined Angler ... the
most pleasantly written, the
most sensible and practical and
instructive volume I have ever
seen of its kind."

[Illustration: Grover Cleveland]

THE ART OF ANGLING.-- ... a
book on the art of angling,
with a hearty indorsement from
the most famous of latter-day
fishermen, former President
Grover Cleveland. It fully
deserves this indorsement.--_New
York Herald_, September 22,
1900.

THE TROUT AND THE WHALE.-- ... rare
sympathy and
genuine knowledge. Mr. Bradford
undoubtedly knows, as
did his sainted forerunner, that
"there are fish, as namely the
whale, three times as big as the
mighty elephant, that is so fierce
in battle," yet a single salve-liner
fontinalis of "just a little
over two pounds and a quarter"
is the single luxury he allows
himself. Mr. Bradford's dealings
are with those sophisticated
denizens of much-fished streams,
that have to be approached with
the finesse of a diplomat and
handled with the swift skill of a
fencing master. In all that
pertains to this difficult and
studious art one feels that Mr.
Bradford is an adept, and that the
graceful, commendatory letter
from former President Cleveland
is amply merited.--_New York
Evening Telegram_, September
8, 1900.

PRACTICAL.--Practical advice.--_New
York Sun._

ANGLING CONVERTS.--There
is always a real charm about
what is written on the subject of
fishing, by real disciples of old
Izaak Walton, and the reason
may be found in the fact that
the spirit of the greatest of
anglers has come upon them.
_The Determined Angler_ is no
exception to the rule. It is
good reading, full of wisdom and
instruction. And while it will
prove very useful to the beginner
and even the veteran, it is also
calculated to make many converts
to the rod and line. The
book is full of wise counsel and
information.--_New York Evening
Sun_, September 8, 1900.

FOR FAIR FISHERMEN.--Appeals
to those who fish fair.... Charles
Bradford, the
modern American authority on
angling.--_New York Press._

FOR GENTLE READERS.--Much
good advice and very
pleasant entertainment for any
gentle reader.--_New York Observer._

SUMMER AND WINTER.--Pleasant
reading whether by the
winter fireside or the shaded
banks of summer.--_New York
Evening Post._

ANGLING EXPERIENCE.--Mr.
Bradford is no novice in this line
of literature.--_New York Athletic
Club Journal._

ANGLING PHILOSOPHY.--Breathes
the very essence of
philosophy; the result of much
experience.--_Brooklyn (N. Y.)
Eagle._

WALTONIAN SPIRIT.--Pervaded
by the spirit of Izaak
Walton.--_The Outlook._

THE GENTLE TROUT.--The
author is an enthusiastic devotee
of the sport [angling], upon
which he writes with a contagious
enthusiasm ... an angler
of very positive convictions; he
has a fixed aversion to fishing
with the scarlet ibis, and confesses
to a personal preference
to sober colors in flies for all
seasons and on all waters. Above
all, he insists upon the use of
the most scientific methods,
since "a trout is a gentleman,
and should be treated as such
and lured with only delicate and
humane weapons." A facsimile
of a letter of warm commendation
from ex-President
Cleveland serves as frontispiece
to this agreeable volume which
is attractively printed.--_New
York Commercial Advertiser_.
September 13, 1900.

THE GENTLE ART.--A gentle
exponent of a gentle art.--_Denver
(Colo.) Republican._

WILD BROOK TROUT.--The
announcement of a new book
on fishing interests a class of the
community, especially those
confined to the cities, which is
increasing year by year. This
work depicts a trout fisherman's
paradise. It is from the same
graphic pen as _The Wildfowlers_,
and divulges many a secret of
the fisherman's craft. One may
learn from its pages where a
gentle creel of real wild brook
trout may be made in a morning's
pleasant angling, "in a
free and comparatively virgin
gameland--a wild and naturally
beautiful country, embracing
all the charms of scenic splendor
for which the American brook
trout regions are famous," and
its pages contain an abundance
of practical detail concerning
tackle and methods of casting
the fly, and playing and landing
the game ... it makes a notable
addition to the sportsman's
library.--_New York Home Journal_.
May 10, 1900.

THE ANGLER'S ART.--Mr.
Bradford gives eminently practical
hints on the angler's art.--_Salt
Lake City (Utah) Telegram._

A STUDY OF FISHING.--The
advice comes from one who has
learned many things about
fishing.--_Utica (N. Y.) Press._

COMPREHENSIVE ANGLING.--One
of the most comprehensive
bits of angling literature we
have had for many a long year,
and thoroughly deserves the
generous praise it has received ... the
most delightful fishing
book of this generation--_The
Amateur Sportsman._

THE ANGLER'S LIBRARY.--deserves
a place in the library
of every fly-fisherman.--_The
Sportsman's Magazine._

A FISHER OF MEN.--Mr.
Bradford may well be proud
of this tribute, for Mr. Cleveland
is himself a determined angler
and an experienced fisher of
men.--_Spirit of the Times._

SECRETS OF THE FISH.--What
he has to tell of the secrets
known only to the fish, himself,
and a few others is marvelous.--_Montreal
(Canada) Gazette._

PHILOSOPHY AND FISHING.--With
this kind of man philosophy
and fishing mix well.--_Rochester
(N. Y.) Herald._

QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY.--Mr.
Bradford writes for those
who see more in the trip than
the frying-pan.--_Savannah (Ga.)
News._

WALTON'S FOLLOWER.--A
true disciple of Izaak Walton.--_London
(Eng.) Post._

ANGLING ENTHUSIASM.--An
accomplished and enthusiastic
angler.--_Cincinnati (Ohio) Star._

CLEVELAND'S WORDS.--Charles
Bradford writes practical and
sensible books.--_Philadelphia
(Pa.) Public Ledger._

ANGLING ANTICIPATIONS.--Mr.
Bradford believes fishing is
a means and not an end.--_Albany
Argus._

JOYOUS MATERIAL.--He has
gathered material to make the
heart of the fisherman leap for
joy.--_Boston Transcript._

WOULD PLEASE WALTON.--Izaak
Walton, Christopher
North, and the other mighty
fishermen known to fame, would
wag their wise heads approvingly
over Mr. Bradford's book.
The Pilgrims who told King
James that they desired to go
God and catch fishes would
accord Mr. Bradford's volume
a place beside the Bay Psalm
Book.--_Pittsburg (Pa.) Gazette._

ENTERTAINING.--Mr. Bradford
has written before on angling,
and very entertainingly.--_Saturday
Evening Post (Phila.)._

CONTEMPLATIVE MAN.--Charles
Bradford is one to
whom, as Washington Irving
said, "There is something in
angling that tends to produce
a gentleness of spirit and a
pure serenity of mind."--_Dundee
(Scot.) Adv._

UNIVERSAL READING.--The
descriptive matter is both
interesting and instructive.
Fishermen in all parts of the
country will find the book well
worth reading.--_Bay City (Mich.)
Tribune_, July 19, 1900.

Transcriber's Note:

* Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.

* Changed "water-proof" to "waterproof" for consistency. Both
forms appeared in the original text.

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Determined Angler and the Brook Trout - an anthological volume of trout fishing, trout histories, - trout lore, trout resorts, and trout tackle" ***

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