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.