THE NEW DISPENSATION OF FISHES. 101 



become no longer a novelty. Oysters, clams and other shellfish may be stimulated 

 by an infusion of new diet and new materials for vigorous growth to increased 

 reproduction. There is no need to the speculative benefits which are likely to 

 result from the temporary displacement of the Gulf Stream by the polar current. 

 Whether it will soon resume its old channel, or whether the change is an initial 

 to mark a new climatic epoch like that which converted the Greenland of the 

 early Norsemen into an icy and sterile tract, is a problem which may well be 

 contemplated with more than ordinary interest. 



NOTE. Written in 1883. 



THE EXPERT ANGLER. 



Assuredly "bookish wisdom" and finical acquirements do not make the fisher- 

 man. Militia soldiers on dress parade may present as effective an appearance as 

 veteran regulars, but something besides toggery and efficiency in the manual of 

 arms is required to make a good fighter. An angler with superfine tackle and rig 

 may astonish the natives by his professional make-up, but unless he "understands 

 the habits of the fish and the character" of the water he fishes, he will make but 

 a poor fist of his angling. His ingenious manipulation of the rod will scare more 

 fish than it will attract, and all his frequent changing of flies and monkeying with 

 his patent shop contrivances will only lessen his chances of filling his creel. If a 

 gunner be restless and uneasy in the "blind," you may be sure the geese will veer 

 and fly high. 



There is a closer analogy between hunting and fishing than many people affect 

 to believe. I am always surprised when I do not perceive the same caution 

 exercised in approaching the denizens of the rivers as the fauna of the forests. 

 The ostrich with his head in the sand is not more foolish than the man who 

 fancies the fish cannot see him because he cannot see them. A practiced eye will 

 detect a motionless fish or a glancing flash in the stream where one who is unac- 

 customed is unable to discover it after it is plainly pointed out. One should 

 approach an eligible part of the stream with unvarying discretion, even though it 

 appears to be barren. Hundreds of soi disant anglers ruin their chances at the 

 outset by the clumsy manner in which they approach the timid creatures which 

 they propose to entice and lay hands on. If market gunners behaved in like 

 manner, utterly ignoring the first principles of drawing on game, our city epicures 

 would get no canvasback ducks. A great deal more is included in a "knowledge 

 of habits" than consists in the mere superficial understanding of what fish eat, 

 how they live and what will attract them best or bring them safe to creel. If it 

 be true of the forest, it is equally true of the brooks, that too much beating about 

 the bush defeats its ends. The silent hunter or angler, and quiet methods, secure 

 the goodlier results. If opinionated tyros only knew by what great painstaking 

 baskets are sometimes filled, they would discover that they have something yet to 

 learn in order to attain the acme of high art. A farmer's boy will crawl on his 

 belly for twenty yards in order to get at a big trout under the bank, and ten to 

 one he will yank him out. Herein he develops several requisite qualities of a true 

 angler. He is familiar with fish habits, and he exercises caution and patience 

 without which success would be impossible. It is by the application of these that 

 the tow string is able to discount the . silk line and reel. Books do not impart 

 the practical information which that lad possesses. I once met a party on the 

 Nepigon, late in the season, who had been fishing all the choice places along shore 

 where fish abound earlier, and had taken none. I took them in a canoe to a riff 



