April, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
151 
10 and 12; some “wet” flies and some 
“dry,” though fishing the fly wet or sunk 
is far more likely to produce results 
in the early fishing days; and should the 
water be overhigh and much discolored, 
the old reliable worm or “garden hac- 
kle” will be more fruitful than any 
artificial, however manipulated or “well 
dissembled.” 
Angle-worms are better when 
cleansed or scoured. It is easy to ac- 
complish this by keeping them in moss 
in an earthenware crock or flower-pot, 
in a cool place. The best moss is that 
having long roots, and such may be 
found on rocks where water is trick- 
ling through it. Long slabs of this 
may be peeled off the rocks, so cohesive 
is it. It should then be thoroughly 
washed and wrung out in water before 
receiving the worms. A teaspoonful 
of milk may be spread over it occa- 
sionally and a little sprinkling of wa- 
ter. Every few days remove any dead 
worms. In a week or less the worms 
have become toughened and very clear, 
almost transparent from having lost 
their earth. When carrying worms to 
and from the water don’t put them in 
a box and dump dirt on top of them; 
put in the soil first, worms on top and 
let them find their own way into it. 
You will make no mistake for East- 
ern streams outside of Maine if you 
stick to the soberer-hued patterns ot 
flies, as Cahill, Cowdung, Black Gnat, 
March Brown, Queen of the Water, 
Brown and Gray Hackles, any of the 
duns as Blue Dun, Yellow Dun, Whirl- 
ing Dun, etc., Coachman, Royal Coach- 
man, Professor, Wickham’s Fancy. Go 
to a reputable tackle-dealer — and tell 
the salesman where you expect to try 
them out, and rely on his judgment. 
I N striking your fish do so by turn- 
ing either the knuckles (to the right) 
or the heel of the palm (to the left) 
sharply down, and, if with any percep- 
tible arm action, always “in the same 
direction as the rod is moving at the 
time;” only except when in waters 
where the fish commonly run so large 
that the prevalent use of a large hook 
with heavy leader requires that you 
“sock it to them.” 
In springtime the thoughts of the vet- 
eran angler are prone to be carried back 
to the time of his first acquaintance with 
his loved recreation. A friend who ha- 
bitually fished upstream the smaller, 
rapid waters that are full of rocks and 
small pools and was wonderfully suc- 
cessful at this style of angling, always 
used the finest kind of undressed-silk 
line and a very light, eight-foot rod. 
This was before the days of the dry 
fly in America, but he made little use 
of the sunken fly. A single cast in each 
likely spot, and he passed swiftly to the 
next; nor did he seem to bother espe- 
cially about quiet movements, but oh! 
with what beautiful, enviable, and 
almost effortless precision that leader 
always straightened! And how tantal- 
izingly his flies danced deftly on the 
water! I never have known an angler 
who quicker could cover a stream than 
this soft-spoken, slight six-footer, and 
victim though he was of the “great 
white plague” I had all I could do to 
keep apace with him. 
The first time ever the writer con- 
sciously set foot in trout water he 
“climbed” up the brook behind him and 
saw him creel thirty fish in less than 
two hours. They mostly were brown 
trout, some were natives, and there 
were a few rainbows; none were under 
seven inches and the largest measured 
twelve. The witchery and calm bene- 
diction of the place come back to me 
after all the years- — the tinkling silvery 
aisle through the forest with its blue 
and fleecy canopy o’erhead and the in- 
termittent gleams of sunshine through 
its embowering greenery; the wild- 
flower decorations in old earth’s new 
carpet; the mossy rocks; now and again 
the flute-like call of a bird; the fascina- 
tion with which I watched the trained 
agility of my companion’s flexible 
wrist that flicked the flies about with 
such delicate accuracy, and the keen 
interest with which I noted the dis- 
tinctive markings of the beautiful 
creatures — spread out on a bed of 
ferns while we reclined on the inviting 
shady bank of the stream — as elucidat- 
ed by the kindly tutor who long since 
made his last earthly strike. How 
empty is the creel of life without sweet 
recollection and blessed hope of the 
future ! 
i 
MWM •, 
m a-' ■ ' 
M/V# 
f kW' 1 
Not least among the joys of angling is that with which the fisherman contemplates his catch 
