LITTLE CASTS
=The Fingerling Fisher.=--It is sad to see a man with his creel full
of trout each not over the size of a lady's penknife. This character
has a photograph made of himself with the fingerlings held in front of
him so as to make them appear of legal size; this he sends to friends
in the city with glowing accounts of his catch of "a hundred speckled
beauties in one day."
=Tent Waterproofing.=--Sugar of lead and alum.
=Woodcraft.=--A good, simple way to find a road or dwelling, if you
are lost in the woods, is to follow down a stream.
=Destroying the Streams.=--Discourage the indiscriminate cutting down
of trees. The destruction of forest land means the drying up of trout
waters and the waste of drinking water.
=The Bungler.=--Bragging of ungentle catches, untruths about the size
of a specimen, and non-ichthyological nonsense about the mystery of a
species--unnatural history such as cheap fiction writers indulge
in--by bungling would-be fishermen annoy the practical man and puzzle
the earnest tyro. The record of honest sport is entertaining and
instructive.
=Discrimination.=--Do not worry if the fish are small so long as they
are of legal size; reduce your tackle. A vest-pocket watch keeps just
as good time as a town-hall clock.
=Sportsmanship.=--Chivalry to his companion and humane treatment to
the game he pursues are the Angler's axioms.
=Giving Fishes to Neighbors.=--Don't give your neighbors part of your
catch. They won't appreciate it. They'll throw them away in most
cases. If they cook and eat them they suffer the belief that they are
doing you a favor. Most recipients of fishes think the specimens too
small, or that they have too many bones, or that they are too thin,
too tough, too hard to scale, etc. They'd rather have a
bought-and-paid-for cold-storage cod of ten pounds than a freshly
caught brook trout presented by an Angler friend.
=Not All of Fishing to Fish.=--"The fisherman whose catching of many
fish causes him to forget his surroundings, blinds his eyes to the
beauties of Nature, and deadens his ears to the music of the wild, is
no Angler."--O. W. Smith.