AFTER A DAY'S FISHING.
What a pleasant fatigue succeeds a day's fishing! There is not, or
should not be, a feeling of weariness, but just the satisfaction one
feels after enjoying a health-giving recreation. Health-giving it
certainly is to the body, and we have no hesitation in saying to the
mind also. It makes one forget for the time being all the evils to which
flesh is heir, and braces up the whole system to meet them when the
necessity arises. But we must not go in for more sentiment than is
actually needful. The practical duties after a day's fishing are these.
If the weather has been damp, change all wet garments _at once_, and if
at all practicable have a hot bath before sitting down to dinner. We say
dinner advisedly, for the angler should always have a good sound dinner
after a day's fishing, as however pleasant the work may have been, still
it is exhausting to the body, and a rough tea, though good in itself,
cannot pretend to have the reviving elements in it that a substantial
dinner has. A glass of whisky, or even two, in cold water, will be found
a very safe accompaniment. A good plan is to order your whisky by the
bottle, and put your card in a nick made in the cork: the ordering of
whisky in glasses is expensive and unsatisfactory. Your dinner over,
turn your attention to your tackle. Unwind your lines, so far as they
have been wet, from the reels, and lay them out on your bedroom floor; if
any chance of being interfered with, wind them round the backs of chairs
instead. They will be dry by the morning. Dry your reels thoroughly, and
put in a little oil wherever you think they would be the better of it;
and this should be done to any other article--spring-balance, gaff,
&c.--that is liable to rust. Your creel or fishing-bag should be washed
out and hung up to dry by the servants of the house immediately after
the fish have been removed, which latter should be done without delay.
Your landing-net should also be suspended in the open air, that it may
get dry as speedily as possible. A landing-net will last double the time
if attention is given to it in this way. Take out all used casting-lines
from your book, and lay them on the mantelpiece till morning: this will
insure the feathers being freed from moisture. And in the case of
expensive flies, this is a matter of consideration, both on the point of
expense as well as your possible inability to replace them where you may
happen to be sojourning for the time. If you mean to make up a new cast
or casts for the morrow, place the casting-lines in a little water in
your basin. They will be in excellent order next morning for
manipulation. Also soak in like manner the _gut_ on which the flies
which you mean to use are dressed. True, you may not be sure what flies
you will put on till you see what sort of a day it may prove to be, but
there is no harm done if you soak the gut (but only the gut) of as many
flies as will give you a good choice.
We should have said nearer the beginning of this chapter to look well
after your waterproofs, that they are not hung up in a hot place. A dry
room or outhouse where there is a good draught is best. If your fishing
should happen to be over for the time being, put your tackle past (after
being thoroughly dried) in the most orderly fashion possible. For our
own part, we have the drawer in our bookcase spaced out into
compartments suitable for holding all our tackle, barring reels and such
like; and this arrangement we find extremely useful, and wonderfully
convenient when we wish to find anything. If, on the other hand, you are
out on a lengthy holiday, and have time at your disposal, after putting
things right for the day, and for next day too, we know of nothing
better than a _good_ rubber at whist for filling up the evening. It must
be a _good_ rubber, however, for the parlour game is neither relaxation
nor pleasure. Hence we would advise all our angling friends to acquire a
thorough knowledge of the game, as only to be learned with the aid of a
good book on the subject. Remember that when staying at some
out-of-the-way fishing hotel, you may be asked to form a table with good
players, and not to be able to hold your own on such occasions is a
great loss of pleasure to yourself, and usually a source of annoyance to
the others. These remarks are somewhat apart from the subject of this
book, but by way of an aside, they may be found not quite out of place.
Do not be beguiled into keeping late hours, for no one can fish well
next day if he has not had a sufficient amount of sleep. But this is
also an aside; for some men need more sleep than others, and each angler
knows his own necessities best. We only promulgate the broad rule, that
without proper rest no one can be in good trim with hand and eye for a
pastime that needs both in a pre-eminent degree. We speak from
experience in this too; and have sometimes imagined that our right hand
had lost its cunning till we remembered that we had not been properly
rested the night before.