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. Athenaeus 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 _saengerfest_."--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.