108 AX ANGLER'S REMINISCENCES. 



cause the ice would occasionally become broken along shore, and the plants them- 

 selves supply oxygen; but calamities come when most guarded against, and the 

 pickerel of Umbagog may have been inclosed by the ice freezing rapidly to the 

 bottom, or even imbedded by a severe and rapid freeze at the beginning of winter. 

 The chubs, suckers and trout escaped because they kept in the deeper water, 

 which had not been exhausted of its air, or gathered around the mouth of in- 

 flowing streams, where small spaces are usually kept open all winter by the current. 

 The pickerel delayed seeking the deeper waters until it was too late, and they 

 were imprisoned. 



The success which almost invariably attends winter fishing through the ice 

 is due to the fish being attracted to the holes in quest of air. Some species of 

 fish consume far less oxygen than others, and will therefore survive conditions 

 which would be fatal to those. This will also partly account for the immunity 

 of the chubs and suckers, while the pickerel died. 



Mortality of fishes in the ocean is often caused by sudden changes of tem- 

 perature occasioned by the shifting of marine currents, just as sheep and cattle 

 in the Southwest are killed by a dry norther. 



Sometimes fish are poisoned by the sudden outburst of subterranean mineral 

 springs or volcanic upheaval. Indeed, may they not, like terrestrial organisms, 

 be subject to epidemics and plagues, fever germs and the numerous fatalities 

 which result from sudden exposure to changes of temperature, or even of un- 

 familiar agencies which pervade the air, the water and the submerged land. 

 There are analogies throughout all nature, which if compared together, account 

 for much that is inexplicable. It is chiefly those things not seen which are 

 mysterious. 



"HOLDING HARD AND KILLING QUICK." 



In an issue of The Angler the editor recalls some angling reminiscences at 

 Yankee Dam, on the Schuylkill, where he had some sharp work with a black bass. 

 He speaks of holding hard and killing his fish quickly, and invites criticism of the 

 method and performance ; therefore, I am free to say that, under the conditions 

 illustrated, I do not see what else he could well do. Indeed, it was masterly work. 



Inexperienced anglers should learn and remember that in the rough water 

 under all dams and natural waterfalls there is always a backset and undertow, 

 which operates greatly to the angler's advantage. It is to his interest to keep the 

 fish within the swirling water, and not let him run out into the uninterrupted, 

 swift current below. In the latter case, unless he gives line freely, he must break 

 tackle or lose fish ; for the direct result of holding hard then is to bring the fish 

 to the surface of the water, where the great force of the current would of itself 

 tear the hook out, unless it was so securely fixed, and the fish so heavy, as to 

 cause some part of the tackle to give way. 



While holding a fish hard in the swirl the great knack and point is to so 

 counteract the leaps which he will be sure to make that he will not be able to 

 throw himself off the hook. The strain of the tense arch of the rod is something 

 immense. Instinct seems to teach the fish to take advantage thereof by leaping 

 clear of the water, so that, by momentarily relieving the strain, he may free 

 himself of the hook. In this little game he will generally succeed, if insecurely 

 fastened, unless the angler instantly responds by lowering the end of his rod to 

 a plane parallel with the level of the water. He must repeat this with each up- 

 ward leap of the fish, often two or three successive times in a minute. This is 

 what gives excitement to the sport far beyond that experienced in sluggish or 



