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.