Fishing, With And Without Flies--Some Tackle And Lures--Discursive
Remarks On The Gentle Art--The Headlight--Frogging
THERE is probably no subject connected with outdoor sport so
thoroughly and exhaustively written up as Fly-fishing and all that
pertains thereto. Fly-fishing for speckled trout always, and
deservedly, takes the lead. Bass fishing usually comes next, though
some writers accord second place to the lake trout, salmon trout or
land-locked salmon. The mascalonge, as a game fish, is scarcely behind
the small-mouthed bass and is certainly more gamy than the lake trout.
The large-mouthed bass and pickerel are usually ranked about with the
yellow perch, I don't know why: they are certainly gamy enough. Perhaps
it is because they do not leap out of water when hooked. Both are good
on the table.
A dozen able and interesting authors have written books wherein trout,
flies and fly-fishing are treated in a manner that leaves an old
backwoodsman little to say. Rods, reels, casting lines, flies and fish
are described and descanted on in a way and in a language, the reading
whereof reduces me to temporary insanity. And yet I seem to recollect
some bygone incidents concerning fish and fishing. I have a
well-defined notion that I once stood on Flat Rock, in Big Pine Creek
and caught over 350 fine trout in a short day's fishing. Also that many
times I left home on a bright May or June morning, walked eight miles,
caught a twelve-pound creel of trout and walked home before bedtime.
I remember that once, in Michigan, on the advice of local fishermen, I
dragged a spoon around High Bank Lake two days, with little result save
half a dozen blisters on my hands; and that on the next morning, taking
a long tamarack pole and my own way of fishing, I caught, before 10
A.M., fifty pounds of bass and pickerel, weighing from two to ten pounds
each.
Gibson, whose spoon, line and skiff I had been using and who was the
fishing oracle of that region, could hardly believe his eyes. I kept
that country inn, and the neighborhood as well, supplied with fish for
the next two weeks.
It is truth to say that I have never struck salt or fresh waters,
where edible fish were at all plentiful, without being able to take, in
some way, all that I needed. Notably and preferably with the fly if
that might be; if not, then with worms, grubs, minnows, grasshoppers,
crickets, or any sort of doodle bug their highnesses might affect. When
a plump, two-pound trout refuses to eat a tinseled, feathered fraud, I
am not the man to refuse him something more edible.
That I may not be misunderstood, let me say that I recognized the
speckled brook trout as the very emperor of all game fish, and angling
for him with the fly as the neatest, most fascinating sport attainable
by the angler. But there are thousands of outers who, from choice or
necessity, take their summer vacations where Salmo fontinalis is not to
be had. They would prefer him, either on the leader or the table; but
he is not there; "And a man has got a stomach and we live by what we
eat."
Wherefore, they go a-fishing for other fish. So that they are
successful and sufficiently fed, the difference is not so material. I
have enjoyed myself hugely catching catties on a dark night from a
skiff with a hand-line.
I can add nothing in a scientific way to the literature of fly-fishing;
but I can give a few hints that may be conducive to practical
success, as well with trout as with less noble fish, In fly-fishing,
one serviceable four-ounce rod is enough; and a plain click reel, of
small size, is just as satisfactory as a more costly affair. Twenty
yards of tapered, waterproof line, with a six-foot leader, and a cost
of two flies, complete the rig, and will be found sufficient. In common
with most fly-fishers, I have mostly thrown a cast of three flies, but
have found two just as effective, and handier.
We all carry too many flies, Some of my friends have more than sixty
dozen and will never use a tenth of them. In the summer of '88, finding
I had more than seemed needful, I left all but four dozen behind me. I
wet only fifteen of them in a seven weeks' outing. And they filled the
bill. I have no time or space for a dissertation on the hundreds of
different flies made and sold at the present day. Abler pens have done
that. I will, however, name a few that I have found good in widely
different localities, i.e., the Northern Wilderness of New York and the
upper waters of Northern Pennsylvania. For the Northern Wilderness:
Scarlet ibis, split ibis, Romeyn, white-winged coachman, royal
coachman, red hackle, red-bodied ashy and gray-bodied ashy. The ashies
were good for black bass also. For Northern Pennsylvania: Queen of the
waters, professor, red fox, coachman, black may, white-winged coachman,
wasp, brown hackle, Seth Green. Ibis flies are worthless here. Using
the dark flies in bright water and clear weather and the brighter
colors for evening, the list was long enough.
At the commencement of the open season and until the young maple
leaves are half grown, bait will be found far more successful than the
fly. At this time the trout are pretty evenly distributed along lake
shores and streams, choosing to lie quietly in rather deep pools and
avoiding swift water. A few may rise to the fly in a logy, indifferent
way; but the best way to take them is bait-fishing with well-cleansed
angle-worms or white grubs, the latter being the best bait I have ever
tried. They take the bait sluggishly at this season, but, on feeling
the hook, wake up to their normal activity and fight gamely to the
last. When young, newborn insects begin to drop freely on the water
about the 20th of May, trout leave the pools and take to the riffles.
And from this time until the latter part of June the fly-fisherman is
in his glory. It may be true that the skillful bait-fisherman will
rather beat his creel. He cares not for that. He can take enough; and
he had rather take ten trout with the fly, than a score with bait. As
for the man who goes a-fishing simply to catch fish, the fly-fisher
does not recognize him as an angler at all.
When the sun is hot and the weather grows warm, trout leave the
ripples and take to cold springs and spring-holes; the largest fish, of
course, monopolizing the deepest and coolest places, while the smaller
ones hover around, or content themselves with shallower water. As the
weather gets hotter, the fly-fishing falls off badly. A few trout of
four to eight ounces in weight may still be raised, but the larger ones
are lying on the bottom and are not to be fooled with feathers. They
will take a tempting bait when held before their noses--sometimes; at
other times, not. As to raising them with a fly--as well attempt to
raise a sick Indian with the temperance pledge. And yet, they may be
taken in bright daylight by a ruse that I learned long ago, of a
youngster less than half my age, a little, freckled, thin-visaged young
man, whose health was evidently affected by a daily struggle with a
pair of tow-colored side whiskers and a light mustache. There was
hardly enough of the whole affair to make a door mat for a bee hive.
But he seemed so proud of the plant, that I forebore to rig him. He was
better than he looked--as often happens. The landlord said, "He brings
in large trout every day, when our best fly-fishermen fail." One night,
around an outdoor fire, we got acquainted and I found him a witty,
pleasant companion. Before turning in I ventured to ask him how he
succeeded in taking large trout, while the experts only caught small
ones, or failed altogether.
"Go with me tomorrow morning to a spring-hole three miles up the river
and I'll show you," he said.
Of course, we went. He, rowing a light skiff and I paddling a still
lighter canoe. The spring-hole was in a narrow bay that set back from
the river and at the mouth of a cold, clear brook; it was ten to twelve
feet deep and at the lower end a large balsam had fallen in with the
top in just the right place for getting away with large fish, or
tangling lines and leaders. We moored some twenty feet above the
spring-hole and commenced fishing, I with my favorite cast of flies, my
friend with the tail of a minnow, He caught a 1 1/2 pound trout almost
at the outset, but I got no rise; did not expect it. Then I went above,
where the water was shallower and raised a couple of half-pounders, but
could get no more, I thought he had better go to the hotel with what he
had, but my friend said "wait"; he went ashore and picked up a long pole
with a bushy tip; it had evidently been used before. Dropping down to
the spring-hole, he thrust the tip to the bottom and slashed it around
in a way to scare and scatter every trout within a hundred feet.
"And what does all that mean?" I asked.
"Well," he said, "every trout will be back in less than an hour; and
when they first come back, they take the bait greedily. Better take off
your leader and try bait."
Which I did. Dropping our hooks to the bottom, we waited some twenty
minutes, when he had a bite, and having strong tackle, soon took in a
trout that turned the scale at 2 1/4 pounds. Then my turn came and I
saved one weighing 1 1/2 pounds. He caught another of 1 1/4 pounds and
I took one of 1 pound. Then they ceased biting altogether.
"And now," said my friend, "if you will work your canoe carefully
around to that old balsam top and get the light where you can see the
bottom, you may see some large trout."
I did as directed, and making a telescope of my hand, looked intently
for the bottom of the spring-hole. At first I could see nothing but
water; then I made out some dead sticks and finally began to dimly
trace the outlines of large fish. There they were, more than forty of
them, lying quietly on the bottom like suckers, but genuine brook
trout, every one of them.
"This," said he, "makes the fifth time I have brushed them out of here
and I have never missed taking from two to five large trout. I have two
other places where I always get one or two, but this is the best."
At the hotel we found two fly-fishers who had been out all the
morning. They each had three or four small trout. During the next week
we worked the spring-holes daily in the same way and always with
success. I have also had good success by building a bright fire on the
bank and fishing a spring-hole by the light--a mode of fishing
especially successful with catties and perch.
A bright, bull's-eye headlight, strapped on a stiff hat, so that the
light can be thrown where it is wanted, is an excellent device for
night fishing. And during the heated term, when fish are slow and
sluggish, I have found the following plan works well: Bake a hard, well
salted, water Johnnycake, break it into pieces the size at a hen's egg
and drop the pieces into a spring-hole. This calls a host of minnows
and the larger fish follow the minnows. It will prove more successful
on perch, catties, chubs, etc., than on trout, however. By this plan, I
have kept a camp of five men well supplied with fish when their best
flies failed--as they mostly do in very hot weather.
Fishing for mascalonge, pickerel and bass, is quite another thing,
though by many valued as a sport scarcely inferior to fly-fishing for
trout. I claim no especial skill with the fly-rod. It is a good day
when I get my tail fly more than fifteen yards beyond the reel, with
any degree of accuracy.
My success lies mainly with the tribes of Esox and Micropterus. Among
these, I have seldom or never failed during the last thirty-six years,
when the water was free of ice; and I have had just as good luck when
big-mouthed bass and pickerel were in the "off season," as at any time.
For in many waters there comes a time--in late August and September
when neither bass nor pickerel will notice the spoon, be it handled
never so wisely. Even the mascalonge looks on the flashing cheat with
indifference; though a very hungry specimen may occasionally immolate
himself. It was at such a season that I fished High Bank Lake--as
before mentioned--catching from twenty to fifty pounds of fine fish
every morning for nearly two weeks, after the best local fishermen had
assured me that not a decent sized fish could be taken at that season.
Perhaps a brief description of the modes and means that have proved
invariably successful for many years may afford a few useful hints,
even to old anglers.
To begin with, I utterly discard all modern "gangs" and "trains,"
carrying from seven to thirteen hooks each. They are all too small and
all too many; better calculated to scratch and tear, than to catch and
hold, Three hooks are enough at the end of any line and better than
more. These should be fined or honed to a perfect point and the abrupt
part of the barb filed down one-half. All hooks, as usually made, have
twice as much barb as they should have; and the sharp bend of the barb
prevents the entering of the hook in hard bony structures, wherefore
the fish only stays hooked so long as there is a taut pull on the line.
A little loosening of the line and shake of the head sets him free. But
no fish can shake out a hook well sunken in mouth or gills, though
two-thirds of the barb be filed away.
For mascalonge or pickerel I invariably use wire snells made as
follows: Lay off four or more strands of fine brass wire 13 inches
long; turn one end of the wires smoothly over a No. 1 iron wire and
work the ends in between the strands below. Now, with a pair of pincers
hold the ends, and using No. 1 as a handle, twist the ends and body of
the snell firmly together; this gives the loop; next, twist the snell
evenly and strongly from end to end. Wax the end of the snell
thoroughly for two or three inches and wax the tapers of two strong
Sproat or O'Shaughnessy hooks and wind the lower hook on with strong,
waxed silk, to the end of the taper; then lay the second hook at right
angles with the first and one inch above it; wind this as the other and
then fasten a third and smaller hook above that for a lip hook. This
gives the snell about one foot in length, with the two lower hooks
standing at right angles, one above the other and a third and smaller
hook in line with the second.
The bait is the element of success; it is made as follows: Slice off a
clean, white pork rind, four or five inches long by an inch and a half
wide; lay it on a board and with a sharp knife cut it as nearly to the
shape of a frog as your ingenuity permits. Prick a slight gash in the
head to admit the lip hook, which should be an inch and a half above
the second one and see that the back of the bait rests securely in the
barb of the middle hook.
Use a stout bait-rod and a strong line. Fish from a boat, with a
second man to handle the oars, if convenient. Let the oarsman lay the
boat ten feet inside the edge of the lily-pads and make your cast, say,
with thirty feet of line; land the bait neatly to the right, at the
edge of the lily-pads, let it sink a few inches, and then with the tip
well lowered, bring the bait around on a slight curve by a quick
succession of draws, with a momentary pause between each; the object
being to imitate as nearly as possible a swimming frog. If this be
neatly done and if the bait be made as it should be, at every short
halt the legs will spread naturally and the imitation is perfect enough
to deceive the most experienced bass or pickerel. When half a dozen
casts to right and left have been made without success, it is best to
move on, still keeping inside and casting outside the lily-pads.
A pickerel of three pounds or more will take in all three hooks at the
first snap; and, as he closes his mouth tightly and starts for the
bottom, strike quickly, but not too hard, and let the boatman put you
out into deep water at once, where you are safe from the strong roots
of the yellow lily.
It is logically certain your fish is well hooked. You cannot pull two
strong, sharp hooks through that tightly closed mouth without fastening
at least one of them where it will do most good. Oftener both will
catch and it frequently happens that one hook will catch each lip,
holding the mouth nearly closed and shortening the struggles of a large
fish very materially. On taking off a fish and before casting again,
see that the two lower hooks stand at right angles. If they have got
turned in the struggle you can turn them at any angle you like; the
twisted wire is stiff enough to hold them in place. Every angler knows
the bold, determined manner in which the mascalonge strikes his prey.
He will take in bait and hooks at the first dash, and if the rod be
held stiffly usually hooks himself. Barring large trout, he is the king
of game fish. The big-mouthed bass is less savage in his attacks, but
is a free biter. He is apt to come up behind and seize the bait about
two-thirds of its length, turn and bore down for the bottom. He will
mostly take in the lower hooks however, and is certain to get fastened.
His large mouth is excellent for retaining the hook. As for the
small-mouthed (Micropterus dolomieu, if you want to be scientific), I
have found him more capricious than any game fish on the list. One day
he will take only dobsons, or crawfish; the next, he may prefer minnows,
and again, he will rise to the fly or a bucktail spinner.
On the whole, I have found the pork frog the most successful lure in
his case; but the hooks and bait must be arranged differently. Three
strands of fine wire will make a snell strong enough and the hooks
should be strong, sharp and rather small, the lower hooks placed only
half an inch apart and a small lip hook two and a quarter inches above
the middle one. As the fork of the bait will not reach the bend of the
middle hook, it must be fastened to the snell by a few stitches taken
with stout thread and the lower end of the bait should not reach more
than a quarter of an inch beyond the bottom of the hook, because the
small-mouth has a villainous trick of giving his prey a stern chase,
nipping constantly and viciously at the tail, and the above arrangement
will be apt to hook him at the first snap. Owing to this trait, some
artificial minnows with one or two hooks at the caudal end, are very
killing--when he will take them.
Lake, or salmon trout, may be trolled for successfully with the above
lure; but I do not much affect fishing for them. Excellent sport may be
had with them, however, early in the season, when they are working near
the shore, but they soon retire to water from fifty to seventy feet
deep and can only be caught by deep trolling or buoy-fishing. I have no
fancy for sitting in a slow-moving boat for hours, dragging three or
four hundred feet of line in deep water, a four pound sinker tied by
six feet of lighter line some twenty feet above the hooks. The sinker
is supposed to go bumping along the bottom, while the bait follows
three or four feet above it. The drag of the line and the constant
joggling of the sinker on rocks and snags, make it difficult to tell
when one has a strike--and it is always too long between bites.
Sitting for hours at a baited buoy with a hand-line and without taking
a fish, is still worse, as more than once I have been compelled to
acknowledge in very weariness of soul. There are enthusiastic anglers,
however, whose specialty is trolling for lake trout. A gentleman by the
name of Thatcher, who has a fine residence on Raquette Lake--which he
calls a camp makes this his leading sport and keeps a log of his
fishing, putting nothing on record of less than ten pounds weight. His
largest fish was booked at twenty-eight pounds, and he added that a
well-conditioned salmon trout was superior to a brook trout on the
table; in which I quite agree with him. But he seemed quite disgusted
when I ventured to suggest that a well-conditioned cattie or bullhead,
caught in the same waters was better than either.
"Do you call the cattie a game fish?" he asked.
Yes; I call any fish a "game fish" that is taken for sport with hook
and line. I can no more explain the common prejudice against the
catfish and eel than I can tell why an experienced angler should drag a
gang of thirteen hooks through the water--ten of them being wane than
superfluous. Frank Forester gives five hooks as the number for a
trolling gang. We mostly use hooks too small and do not look after
points and barbs closely enough. A pair of No. 1 O'Shaughnessy, or 1
1/2 Sproat, or five tapered blackfish hooks, will make a killing rig
for small-mouthed bass using No. 4 Sproat for lip hook. Larger hooks
are better for the big-mouthed, a four-pound specimen of which will
easily take in one's fist. A pair of 5-0 O'Shaughnessy's, or Sproat's
will be found none too large; and as for the mascalonge and pickerel,
if I must err, let it be on the side of large hooks and strong lines.
It is idle to talk of playing the fish in water where the giving of a
few yards insures a hopeless tangle among roots, tree-tops, etc. I was
once fishing in Western waters where the pickerel ran very large, and I
used a pair of the largest salmon hooks with tackle strong enough to
hold a fish of fifteen pounds, without any playing; notwithstanding
which, I had five trains of three hooks each taken off in as many
days by monster pickerel. An expert mascalonge fisherman--Davis by
name--happened to take board at the farm house where I was staying, and
he had a notion that he could "beat some of them big fellows;" and he
did it; with three large cod hooks, a bit of fine, strong chain, twelve
yards of cod-line, an eighteen-foot tamarack pole and a twelve inch
sucker for bait. I thought it the most outlandish rig I had ever seen,
but went with him in the early gray of the morning to see it tried,
just where I had lost my hooks and fish.
Raising the heavy bait in the air, he would give it a whirl to gather
headway and launch it forty feet away with a splash that might have
been heard thirty rods. It looked more likely to scare than catch, but
was a success. At the third or fourth cast we plainly saw a huge
pickerel rise, shut his immense mouth over bait, hooks and a few inches
of chain, turn lazily and head for the bottom, where Mr. D. let him
rest a minute, and then struck steadily but strongly. The subsequent
struggle depended largely on main strength, though there was a good
deal of skill and cool judgment shown in the handling and landing of
the fish. A pickerel of forty pounds or more is not to be snatched out
of the water on his first mad rush: something must be yielded--and with
no reel there is little chance of giving line. It struck me my friend
managed his fish remarkably well, towing him back and forth with a
strong pull, never giving him a rest and finally sliding him out on a
low muddy bank, as though he were a smooth log. We took him up to the
house and tested the size of his mouth by putting a quart cup in it,
which went in easily. Then we weighed him and he turned the scales at
forty-four pounds. It was some consolation to find three of my hooks
sticking in his mouth. Lastly, we had a large section of him stuffed
and baked. It was good; but a ten-pound fish would have been better,
The moral of all this--if it has any moral--is, use hooks according to
the size of fish you expect to catch.
And, when you are in a permanent camp, and fishing is very poor, try
frogging. It is not a sport of a high order, though it may be called
angling--and it can be made amusing, with hook and line. I have seen
educated ladies in the wilderness, fishing for frogs with all eagerness
and enthusiasm not surpassed by the most devoted angler with his
favorite cast of flies.
There are several modes of taking the festive batrachian. He is
speared with a frog-spear; caught under the chin with snatch-hooks;
taken with hook and line, or picked up from a canoe with the aid of a
headlight, or jack-lamp. The two latter modes are best.
To take him with hook and line: a light rod, six to eight feet of
line, a snell of single gut with a 1-0 Sproat or O'Shaughnessy hook and
a bit of bright scarlet flannel for bait; this is the rig. To use it,
paddle up behind him silently and drop the rag just in front of his
nose. He is pretty certain to take it on the instant. Knock him on the
head before cutting off his legs. It is unpleasant to see him squirm
and hear him cry like a child while you are sawing at his thigh joints.
By far the most effective manner of frogging is by the headlight on
dark nights. To do this most successfully, one man in a light canoe, a
good headlight and a light, one-handed paddle are the requirements. The
frog is easily located, either by his croaking, or by his peculiar
shape. Paddle up to him silently and throw the light in his eyes; you
may then pick him up as you would a potato. I have known a North Woods
guide to pick up a five-quart pail of frogs in an hour, on a dark
evening. On the table, frogs' legs are usually conceded first place for
delicacy and flavor, For an appetizing breakfast in camp, they have no
equal, in my judgment. The high price they bring at the best hotels,
and their growing scarcity, attest the value placed on them by men who
know how and what to eat. And, not many years ago, an old pork-gobbling
backwoodsman threw his frying pan into the river because I had cooked
frogs' legs in it. While another, equally intelligent, refused to use
my frying pan, because I had cooked eels in it; remarking
sententiously, "Eels is snakes, an' I know it."
It may be well, just here and now, to say a word on the importance of
the headlight. I know of no more pleasant and satisfactory adjunct of a
camp than a good light that can be adjusted to the head, used as a jack
in floating, carried in the hand, or fastened up inside the shanty.
Once fairly tried, it will never be ignored or forgotten. Not that it
will show a deer's head seventeen rods distant with sufficient
clearness for a shot--or your sights with distinctness enough to make
it. (See Murray's Adirondacks, page 174.)
A headlight that will show a deer plainly at six rods, while lighting
the sights of a rifle with clearness, is an exceptionally good light.
More deer are killed in floating under than over four rods. There are
various styles of headlights, jack-lamps, etc. in use. They are bright,
easily adjusted and will show rifle sights, or a deer, up to 100
feet--which is enough. They are also convenient in camp and better than
a lantern on a dim forest path.
Before leaving the subject of bait-fishing, I have a point or two I
wish to make. I have attempted to explain the frog-bait and the manner
of using it, and I shall probably never have occasion to change my
belief that it is, all the whole, the most killing lure for the entire
tribes of bass and pickerel. There is however, another, which, if
properly handled, is almost as good. It is as follows:
Take a bass, pickerel, or yellow perch, of one pound or less; scrape
the scales clean on the under side from the caudal fin to a point just
forward of the vent.
Next, with a sharp knife, cut up toward the backbone, commencing just
behind the vent with a slant toward the tail. Run the knife smoothly
along just under the backbone and out through the caudal fin, taking
about one-third of the latter and making a clean, white bait, with the
anal and part of the caudal by way of fins. It looks very like a white
minnow in the water; but is better, in that it is more showy and
infinitely tougher. A minnow soon drags to pieces. To use it, two
strong hooks are tied on a wire snell at right angles, the upper one an
inch above the lower, and the upper hook is passed through the bait,
leaving it to draw without turning or spinning. The casting and
handling is the same as with the frog-bait and is very killing for
bass, pickerel and mascalonge, It is a good lure for salmon trout also;
but, for him it was found better to fasten the bait with the lower hook
in a way to give it a spinning motion; and this necessitates the use of
a swivel, which I do not like; because, "a rope is as strong as its
weakest part"; and I have more than once found that weakest part the
swivel. If, however, a swivel has been tested by a dead lift of twenty
to twenty-five pounds, it will do to trust.
I have spoken only of brass or copper wire for snells, and for
pickerel or mascalonge of large size nothing else is to be depended on.
But for trout and bass; strong gut or gimp is safe enough. The
possibilities as to size of the mascalonge and Northern pickerel no man
knows. Frank Forester thinks it probable that the former attains to the
weight of sixty to eighty pounds, while he only accords the pickerel a
weight of seventeen to eighteen pounds. I have seen several pickerel of
over forty pounds and one that turned the scale at fifty-three. And I
saw a mascalonge on Georgian Bay that was longer than the Canuck guide
who was toting the fish over his shoulder by a stick thrust in the
mouth and gills. The snout reached to the top of the guide's head,
while the caudal fin dragged on the ground. There was no chance for
weighing the fish, but I hefted him several times, carefully, and am
certain he weighed more than a bushel of wheat. Just what tackle would
be proper for such a powerful fellow I am not prepared to say, having
lost the largest specimens I ever hooked. My best mascalonge weighed
less than twenty pounds. My largest pickerel still less.
I will close this discursive chapter by offering a bit of advice.
Do not go into the woods on a fishing tour without a stock of well
cleansed angle-worms. Keep them in a tin can partly filled with damp
moss and in a cool moist place. There is no one variety of bait that
the angler finds so constantly useful as the worm. Izaak Walton by no
means despised worm or bait-fishing.