AMERICAN 
For the Farm, Garden, and Household. ■ 
"AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF M A N. "—Washington. 
Volume XLI.— No. 4. 
NEW YORK, APRIL, 1882. 
New Series— No. 423. 
THE TROUT BROOK IN APRIL .— Designed, and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
After the long dreary winter has passed, 
and the March floods have subsided, the 
brooks that were swollen and muddy, be¬ 
come clear and flow with a more quiet cur¬ 
rent. At this time the trout fisher, and the 
countiy boy alike, are in their glory. The 
country youth, with a handful of earth¬ 
worms, a lithe sapling, a few yards of line, 
and two or three hooks, seeks the brook-side, 
and casts his baited hook gently upon the 
water, near the side of some moss-grown 
boulder. He slyly works the bait to the base 
of the rock, where, to the uninitiated, no 
signs of fish appear. The lad knows better— 
as a rush, a tug, and a flash of a speckled 
beauty in the air attests. 
The fly angler, scorning this simple mode 
of fishing, prepares, with care and skill, the 
gaudy or the sombre-colored fly, as may best, 
in his experience or judgment, lure the cov¬ 
eted game to his hook. Arriving at the 
brook, the fisherman carefully adjusts his rod 
and reel, and attaches the flies (a number of 
which he carries in ins hat-band) and adroitly 
casts his line; avoiding a too near approach 
to the stream, the flies are skillfully dropped 
upon the water, as if brushed from some 
overhanging bough. The wary fish is de¬ 
ceived, and darts from its hiding place be¬ 
neath some log or boulder, or out of a 
hole in the bank; it gorges the hook and is 
“played,” and landed with all the grace 
that becomes a skillful angler. 
The old adage of the trout fisherman: “ If 
you want to see the fish, don’t let the fish see 
you,” appears to be fully understood by the 
fisherman depicted in the engraving. Ob¬ 
serve how cautiously he moves himself to 
the edges of the great slippery rock, that no 
shadow or sight of him may disturb the 
well-fed, gamy fish that may lurk in the 
quiet pool, and which, if captured by a su¬ 
perior skill, will render the catcher as well as 
caught, objects of admiration to the fellow 
fishermen. No more agreeable day can be 
passed by the sportsman than in fishing in 
“The Trout Brook in April.” A few years 
ago it seemed that trout-fishing could only 
be enjoyed by those who could afford to visit 
those parts of the country that still remain 
as a “ Wilderness.” Thanks to the efforts of 
the U. S. Fish Commissioners of the several 
States, many of the exhausted streams have 
been abundantly restocked with trout. If 
the taking of the fish is restricted by judicious 
laws, there seems no doubt that trout-fish¬ 
ing, regarded as the highest form of the 
angler’s sport, may be within reach of all 
who care to indulge in it. Besides this it will 
add largely to the food supplies of the countiy. 
Copyright, 1882, by Orange Judd Company. 
Entered at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., as Second Class Matter. 
