FISH AND FISHING. 



453 



his lunch and his breakfast, and start out 

 again. 



Sometimes, after the season is well ad- 

 vanced, when work is slack and fish are 

 plentiful and anxious to be caught, the 

 angler seems to get started and not be 

 able to stop. Out he goes, day after day, 

 day after day, planning one trip while re- 

 turning from the last, seeming to think of 

 nothing else, until something — a flood, a 

 sickness, or a business complication — hap- 

 pens to stop him, and it would doubtless 

 astonish the uninitiated to hear his ex- 

 pression of gratitude when this occurs. 



An unprejudiced observer will find it 

 hard to account for the chronic guilty con- 

 science with which anglers seem to be pur- 

 sued ; but all must admit that they usually 

 start on a trip in either a defiant or an 

 apologetic mood. Other men take their 

 vacations and playspells as though entitled 

 to them, and it is surely no more repre- 

 hensible to take a day on the river than 

 one at the races or at a camp meeting. 

 This feeling in the angler can hardly arise 

 from regret at deserting his family, for he 

 leaves them with composure to go to a 

 political convention or to a college reunion. 

 Neither can it be because of the expense, 

 for the angler hoards his money for that ex- 

 press purpose in an open and unblushing 

 way. Yet invariably the news of a newly 

 planned excursion is broken in the gentlest 

 possible way, the angler endeavoring to ap- 

 pear at ease. 



This frame of mind has its advantages. 

 Like Eugene Field's boy just before 

 Christmas, 'he's as good as he can be," and 

 it is not an altogether undesirable thing to 

 have your angler occasionally in the frame 

 of mind where he will cheerfully dig the 

 garden, chop the wood and mend broken 

 windows. 



A woman hears a great deal of times and 

 seasons : when the trout are at the cold wa- 

 ter, on the riffles or in the small streams ; 

 when the bass are most anxious to be 

 caught, and the kind Of bait they prefer. 

 She finds that certain kinds of rods and 

 reels are much appreciated, and secretly 

 wonders if the chief difference does not lie 

 in the price. She becomes an expert in 

 making minnow nets, and is convinced that 

 catching trout with worms is the unpardon- 

 able sin. She comes to handle tenderly the 

 most disreputable old shoes and other arti- 

 cles of clothing; yet in spite of all this, 

 years of observation probably fail to dis- 

 close to her the reason for all the peculiari- 

 ties of men who fish. 



A DAY WITH THE LAKE TROUT. 

 May 20th, in response to a letter from 

 my guide at Lake Keuka that "They are 

 biting," I made hurried preparations and 



in due time arrived at Bath, 8 miles from 

 the lake. The operator called up a livery- 

 man, who came with a team, and 40 min- 

 utes later we were at the hotel in Ham- 

 mondsport. Five o'clock the next morning 

 found me on the dock admiring the beauty 

 of matchless Keuka. Breakfast of fried 

 trout was cut short by the boat's whistle, 

 and once on board the Halsey I snapped a 

 few pictures before accepting the invita- 

 tion of Frank Conklin, the pilot, to join 

 him. The boat's destination was Penn Yan, 

 22 miles distant, fare 10 cents to any point 

 on the lake. The day was fine, and from 

 my point of vantage in the pilot house I 

 found the scene deeply interesting. The 

 bluffs on either side as far as the eye can 

 reach are covered with vineyards, and 

 there are huge wine cellars on every hand. 

 Hundreds of handsome cottages nestle by 

 the lake, and as the steamer crosses and re- 

 crosses the water we who are shut in offices 

 so much feel content. 



At Catawba I found my guide awaiting 

 me, and he said if I did not catch fish 

 there would be no bill to pay. As the 

 steamer pulled out we made the lines ready, 

 with Seth Green gangs and sinkers weigh- 

 ing 14 ounces. A Seth Green gang has 3 

 treble hooks about an inch apart, strung 

 on fine gut. Two feet above the sinker a 

 single gut leader 12 feet long is attached. 

 About 8 feet nearer the top another 2-foot 

 leader is placed, and the same distance 

 apart 3 more, each a little longer than the 

 one below, 5 in all. These are baited with 

 a little fish called sawbelly or alewife. 

 There is no swivel, and the bait is not in- 

 tended to revolve like a spoon, but by giv- 

 ing the fish a little curve as the hooks are 

 fastened, it has the appearance of a leaping 

 fish. I used 60 feet of line and the guide 

 90. The lines were gently zigzagged through 

 the water as we glided back and forth, and 

 presently I hooked a big fish that dashed 

 about like a horse, despite the weight of 

 the heavy sinker. My fish took all of its 

 line, which I partially regained when the 

 fish sought the bottom, the line flying 

 through my fingers until they smarted. 

 The struggle did not last long. I could 

 look down through the clear water and see 

 the fish darting this way and that, now 

 standing on its head and again darting 

 under the boat. When I had brought the 

 fish to the side of the boat Will missed 

 gaffing it, and away it went for the bottom. 

 A second time there was a miss, but the 

 third time the fish was landed, and when 

 weighed it proved to be an 8 pounder. 

 While off Bluff Point, a well known bit 

 of water for fish, I struck again, and 

 we landed a s l A pound trout, which had 

 taken the hook on the upper leader. I 

 lost another trout that had taken a hook 

 on one of the lower leaders. For 2 hours 



