THE HARMONY OF NATURE. 



193 



THE ARDENT ANGLER. 



I have also seen excellent fly-fishers with such an extem- 

 porized rod as Josh Billings recommends. On Pine Creek, 

 in Pennsylvania, anglers who fish for a livelihood use such a 

 rod, and fish with only one clumsily-tied fly. They wade the 

 stream which is a good plan to avoid meeting rattlesnakes 

 and to a string tied over the left shoulder and under the 

 left arm they attach their fish, and tow them along as they 

 angle down the stream. On some days they take from thirty 

 to fifty pounds of trout. On Trout Run, a tributary to Ly- 

 coming Creek, the best native anglers use a rod formed of 

 two hickory joints lashed together, and a top joint of whale- 

 bone lashed on whole length about nine feet. They fish 

 down stream, wading the middle of the creek where not too 

 deep, and casting right and left some forty feet, under boughs 

 which barely clear the water, bringing out large prismatic 

 beauties at nearly every cast with a single fly of domestic 

 make. They do this where gentlemen amateurs, from all 

 parts of the country, find it extremely difficult to get a rise 

 to their superior flies, though presented with the best make 



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