746 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June 14, 1913 
The Surf Angler’s Creed 
Fourth Paper 
By SWITCH REEL 
mornings were devoted to chicken hunting, and 
during the middle of the day we cared for the 
dogs and got a meal. Late in the afternoon we 
began going out to the blinds, one or two at 
each of the several good ponds and rice sloughs, 
keeping the birds on the move. Many different 
farmers took advantage of being in duck blinds 
while we kept the birds moving. We divided 
game up equally and tried to make the men 
who owned the land and water feel that we 
wanted but enough for table uses and a few to 
send home iced. 
Chicken shooting is very hard on dogs that 
have not been well fitted for it. They get sore¬ 
footed from the tough grass and stubble, have 
poor wind, and generally shoot their bolt before 
the hunting is reached, if they are not kept on 
chain till the grounds are reached. It is a good 
plan to have a coarse sponge and an old pail 
along, where dogs are going to be used, to wash 
sore feet and care for possible wounds from 
wire fences. A little alum water to soak a dog’s 
feet in will harden them up. A light feeding at 
noon if the animal is very hungry is good, but 
a big feed, all the dog will eat, should be given 
at night. Morning is no time for feeding a 
working dog. Have patience with him; keep 
him chained when not at work. Lead him to 
the grounds where the hunting is. If he is head 
strong, do not curb him too quickly. After he 
gets into the first game of the season you will 
know more about handling him. When the dog’s 
work is done, clean out the weed seed and burrs, 
brush him well, and put him to sleep in a place 
where he will not stiffen up. A warm place to 
sleep, not a damp one, a good bed and good 
supper, will make him feel like a new dog the 
next day. Dog boots are good if you are going 
into a sand burr country, and one or two are 
good anyhow to carry, as one can never tell when 
a dog will bruise a foot and need a light band¬ 
age. 
Hypnotics of the Rattler. 
Hartford, Conn., April 13. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: I note a very interesting article by 
Game Commissioner Cranston in Forest and 
Stream. It is my opinion that this rattler was 
sunning himself on a ledge. These rattlers have 
a hypnotic stare with which they can induce an 
animal to come very close to them. He probably 
hypnotized an animal of some sort in this way 
and struck him. This animal, livelier than the 
cottontail, leaped from the ledge and later died 
frpm the effects of the bite. This^ was the 
“flash” you saw. The snake, failing to handle 
his first victim, decides to try a cottontail. He 
induces this cottontail to come within striking 
distance and strikes him once, twice, three times 
and slips off the ledge. 
All of his poison being used upon his first 
victim, there was not enough accumulated in 
so short a time to kill a second animal. So the 
rabbit, as soon as the snake’s spell lifted and 
he came out of his trance, went about his busi¬ 
ness none the worse for his experience, except 
for a few pin pricks. C. Treat. 
In Massachusetts three bills to reopen the 
spring shooting of water fowl have been de¬ 
feated. as well as a bill to permit the shooting 
of gulls. 
ALTON says: 
"I care not, I, to fish in seas. 
Fresh rivers best my mind do please; 
Whose sweet calm course I contemplate. 
And seek in life to imitate.” 
But also he tells us “that in ancient times 
a debate hath risen, and it remains yet unre¬ 
solved, whether the happiness of man in this 
world doth consist more in contemplation or 
action.” 
Would that Sir Izaak could have tasted the 
gentle joys of the surf angler of to-day as he 
UAKCOKING A 35-POUND CHANNEL BASS. 
follows his pastime by the sea ! What is more 
conducive to contemplation than long hours on 
the clean white beach, or on some rugged rock 
there awaiting the great strike which is to bring 
action to the fore? Here, then, is the answer 
to the ancient question! What if it be ten days 
of contemplation to one hour of action ? Article 
One in the Creed is long hours and small pay. 
It is a common remark along the beach when 
reference is made to some individual who has 
tried for a few days and quit, that “he couldn't 
stand the gaff,” a very pointed way of stating 
that he lacked the perseverance necessary to due 
appreciation of this branch of the sport of fish¬ 
ing, so let him go in perfect pity—he does not 
subscribe to the second article, dogged persist¬ 
ence. 
And again, when two or three chummers 
come ashore with a dozen or twenty channel 
bass of twenty to forty pounds each, while a 
dozen or twenty of the faithful have taken but 
two or three on the beach, wonder is sometimes 
expressed that all hands do not flock to the 
boats. But just here the third and greatest article 
of the Creed intervenes—they must come to the 
beach or we don’t want them. 
The moderation of Walton is not greater nor 
more laudable than that of the toiler by the sea. 
Without discouragement the latter will go day 
after day to the beach and return with empty 
hands but with joyful heart. He has drunk long 
draughts of the pure salt air and laved in the 
glorious sunshine; or. perchance, in slicker and 
so'wester, he has breasted all day a lashing 
northeast storm, but however be it, he has done 
his part and time and again swung on the per¬ 
fect rod and shot a four-ounce lead and a 
1 unch of blood worms far into the restless 
1 reakers. He has been ready every instant lest 
a big one take him unawares, but—they didn’t 
come to the beach, and so they are still in the 
sea—that’s all. 
To-morrow, next week, next month, per¬ 
chance next year, the great instant arrives. Of 
a sudden the lead leaps to life. It's true! It’s 
true! The big fellow has struck at last! A 
pressure on the reel enough to throw his weight 
on the hook without quite stopping him and the 
barb sinks in. He is racing for the bar 400 
feet away, and the line says “Zit, zit, zit” as it 
slips from the reel under the steady pressure of 
the thumb, for we must make him pay in strength 
for every yard of line he takes. With the butt 
of the rod in the cup of the rod belt, the tip is 
held well up, and the graceful bowing of the 
trusty stick thrills every heart in view. 
He’s out to the bar by now, and if he suc¬ 
ceeds in crossing it in the face of the seas run¬ 
ning over it, there will be trouble ahead. But 
no, the heavy pressure throughout his run has 
taxed his strength sorely, and we feel him turn¬ 
ing back. Now is the time to regain line against 
his next run when he has recovered his wind, if 
it be correct to use the expression. So it is 
pump and reel, pump and reel, as he shoots 
obliquely across the channel. Perhaps 75 or 100 
yards is regained ere he turns his tail toward 
the beach and stops the process, for there is 
no surer way of losing a big fish than trying 
to move him backward. 
As long as the angler can keep the head of 
the fish toward him, he controls the situation, 
but once the fish gets his tail toward the angler, 
the fish is in control and must be given line. 
L^p the beach this time at top speed he goes 
against the current, which, bearing strongly 
against the lengthening line tends to bend his 
course more and more inward until, finding him¬ 
self almost into the breakers, he makes a quick 
shift and starts down the beach heading out. 
Here again the angler may ply the reel indus¬ 
triously to accumulate insurance in the shape of 
line against contingencies. As the fish comes 
abeam and races past, the taut line is slicing 
off the top of the green wave that is rolling in 
and a spray of bright pearls curves gaily up into 
the wind. Now he is by and is taking line again. 
.A.nd again is heard that “Zit. zit” as the thumb- 
stall bears on the reel with deadly earnestness. 
