method, there would not be enough trout caught 
in all the trout waters of the United States in 
one season to keep this branch of angling alive. 
It would have a sudden and peaceful death with 
but few mourners, if any, and among the few 
not a single dry fly man. 
Let me say to you Mr. Dry Fly Writer of this 
article to which I take exception, as I took ex¬ 
ception to the one you published three years ago, 
that you make a great error in not playing the 
game fair and thus needlessly arousing a just 
feeling of resentment among the many users of 
the wet fly. 
I realize fully that you are an ardent admirer 
of the dry fly and that you wish others to enjoy 
“the glorious sport with the floating and almost 
living fly” but to attain your end you have adopted 
questionable tactics to say the least. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The average fisherman sees stranger things 
sometimes than he tells about, even though pro¬ 
verbially accused of enthusiastic exaggeration 
Probably every man who has cast a line has lost 
his tackle through the breaking away of a fish, 
and many have afterward recaptured these fish 
with hooks embedded in the mouth. 
I send you herewith a photograph of a troll I 
took last year from the lower jaw of a big pike 
in a Canadian lake. Pete, the guide, and I, had 
some business down one of the lakes near where 
we w'ere encamped and as Pete was doing the 
paddling I sat idly in the canoe and more from 
force of habit than in the hope of catching any 
fish, I was casting a fly—a red Ibis, if I remem¬ 
ber rightly—here and there on the water. North¬ 
ern pike as a rule do not rise to a fly, but in 
this instance one did, and after a lively fight I 
scooped him into the canoe. He was apparently 
about a four-pound specimen, plump and fat, and 
through his lower jaw the big troll, as per pic¬ 
ture, was hanging. The queer part of the story 
is that the hooks were all inside the lower jaw 
and the troll was protruding through at full 
length. Evidently it had been imbedded there 
a long time, for a round smooth hole had been 
worn through the horny substance of the lower 
jaw and the troll was swinging at full length. 
The photograph makes the troll look better than 
it appeared, for the lure was a homemade speci¬ 
men, the wire being roughly twisted and the 
spoon of rough tin, as though cut from a can. 
As the lake in which the pike was caught is 
never fished, the supposition is that some pass¬ 
ing Indian had lost his tackle when he hooked 
the fish. 
While the Northern pike is usually anathema 
to the fisherman, I took particular pleasure in 
this case in relieving the poor devil of his jew¬ 
elry attachment and turning him loose in the 
water uninjured. It may be fancy, but I believe 
honestly that the wiggle of the tail of that pike 
as he disappeared into the water expressed as 
much thanks and gratitude as any fish, even of 
a higher order than the pike, could be expected 
to show. 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
No angler just because' he uses the wet fly 
cares to be knocked down, walked on, told he 
is a bait fisherman and if he wishes to become 
a true fly fisherman he must give up wet fly 
fishing and use the dry fly. 
All this talk is useless for it accomplishes no 
good results; first, because it wins no converts; 
second because it creates friction unnecessarily; 
and third because it acts like a boomerang re¬ 
turning only to discredit the source from whence 
it came. There is ample room for the wet and 
the dry fly method of fly fishing; they both have 
great merit and each is scientific, requiring great 
skill and knowledge to properly and success¬ 
fully apply them. They are in no sense com¬ 
petitors for as a rule both methods can seldom 
be used upon the same waters at the same time 
to advantage. 
“Spoon Victuals” 
349 
For the good of the entire angling fraternity, 
the younger generation of anglers, the older and 
more seasoned fly fishermen and for the greater 
glory of the clean and dignified sport, let us do 
away with this eternal controversy of the “Dry 
Fly-vs-Wet Fly” by uniting all of our efforts in 
establishing the “Universal Angler,” who will 
use each method of fly fishing as his fancy and 
judgment dictates without prejudice or ill will 
toward either. 
On this basis, Mr. Dry Fly Man, I will not 
only pass the decanter and heartily join hands 
with you but I will drink a “bumper” and yet 
another “bumper” to you and the “Universal 
Angler” who not only has a part but the whole 
world as a fishing ground. 
with this Pike 
Naturally all this brings up the question 
whether fish suffer pain when hooked. The 
writer will not go into the question at length, 
as it has been discussed ever since the time when 
“Polyphemus bobbed for whales” and will be 
discussed till the end of time. We know that 
the large predatory fishes seem almost insensible 
to wounds, for a shark will continue feeding 
even after it has been ripped open, and it is a 
common experience to pick up trout almost im¬ 
mediately after they have snapped the line or 
leader, with the fly dangling from the mouth. 
1 hose who are not acquainted with the sport, 
and particularly the feminine portion of the 
family, usually upbraid anglers for their cruelty, 
but the charge cannot be well sustained. The 
real cruelty of anglers arises from ignorance and 
indifference, as with the man who will drag 
fish out of the water and leave them to gasp 
out their lives in a creel or on the bank. This 
sort of individual should be barred from the fra¬ 
ternity. It is so easy to despatch a fish that no 
excuse remains for him who tosses his victim 
to one side and allows it to gasp out its life 
in miserable torture. A short billet or piece of 
wood applied with a few brisk strokes just back 
of the eyes is a merciful application, or the 
blade of a sharp pen-knife, the point of which 
will touch the spine, is equally efficacious. If 
you want to keep your fish, try either of these 
methods a? soon as the catch is taken off the 
hook. This shows the spirit of the true angler 
—the other fellow is not an angler—he is a 
butcher pure and simple, and can never belong to 
the brotherhood. 
OLD CAMPER. 
In flush times successful advertisers plug hard, 
because the going’s good. In slack season, they 
plug harder, so they get theirs. One of the best 
mediums you can have plugging for you is 
Forest and Stream. 
The history of successful advertisers varies in 
many details, but is surprisingly alike in one 
essential. They keep everlastingly at it! 
“Spoon Victuals” Seemed to Agree 
