460 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 19, 1910. 
all the fish down, but it is useless to feel irri¬ 
table about it. On free water there are always 
bait-fishers except on such rivers as the Au 
Sable, in Michigan, where fly only has been 
the law for two or three years. I hear there ate 
lots of fish now. 
I remember my first essay at April fishing with 
the artificial fly when I was a small boy. An 
angler of experience had given me a Patton fly, 
brown body and guinea fowl wings, and I con¬ 
structed a fly-rod out of the remnants of several 
fine old broken rods. The trout were usually 
up to snuff, as they were much pestered in those 
parts, but there seemed to be a fascination about 
that fly, and twenty-two of them found their way 
into the basket. A very proud boy marched 
home that night, but tKe conceit was soon to be 
taken out of him. On his next half holiday he 
found a quiet pool where the trout were busily 
feeding. He removed the bait hook from his 
leader and attached that irresistible Patton fly. 
Cast followed cast in rapid succession; many 
times the young fisherman fancied that the trout 
tried to grab the fly, but he could not hook one. 
At last, completely worn out and with an ach¬ 
ing arm, he gave it up for that day and retired 
from the scene with chastened spirit. When 
putting up his tackle after reaching home the 
mystery was explained. He had been fly-fishing 
with two large shot on the leader. 
In those days I was under the tutorage of an 
ancient fisherman who was known as Docky, 
and had a great respect for his piscatorial pre¬ 
cepts. Now Docky meant business; he wanted 
fish, and as many of them as possible without 
regard to methods. His large pocket book held 
a great quantity of artificial flies, but they were 
carried in a tangled mass. There was always 
an abundance of the best bait hooks in all the 
useful sizes and he pinned his faith to a long 
and powerful fly-rod in four points. With this 
two-handed weapon he could heave out. many 
yards of his old-fashioned silk and hair line 
when necessity required, but for the most part 
he used bait. Docky believed in oils and un¬ 
guents, and often strange odors “from Araby the 
blest,” or some seaport nearer at hand, were 
wafted from his person. Among his stores was 
always to be found a huge lump of asafetida, 
and small pieces of this were mingled with his 
worms. The said worms were carried in the foot 
of an old stocking or sock and this was deposited 
in the most convenient pocket of his fishing coat. 
I accepted a portion of sock and fragrant 
wriggling contents with joy. Surely, no trout 
could ignore a temptation so strong, and suc¬ 
cess was assured. The good people at home al¬ 
ways knew when I had been fishing with Docky, 
but were at a loss as to the reason why I smelt 
so horribly. The discovery of the worm bag 
with its piece of asafetida in my jacket pocket 
was sufficiently explanatory, but, “why would 
boys do such things” remained a mystery. 
Fortunately a copy of Norris’ “American Ang¬ 
ler’s Book” came into my possession, and this 
was all for fly-fishing where trout were the 
quarry in view. Uncle Thad’s easily compre¬ 
hended instructions enabled me to tie flies for 
myself. At first they were put together with¬ 
out much regard for strength. In one afternoon 
five flies were torn from the hooks, although the 
best part of the morning hours had been lost in 
their construction. However, they killed thir¬ 
teen trout before they perished. 
Did you ever have much success in fly-fishing 
by moonlight? This question has puzzled me 
considerably, as of recent years I have failed 
to score when the night was, as the saying is, as 
bright as day. Yet I remember an evening, after 
a long hot day of disappointment, when the 
trout rose well for an hour and a half after the 
moon appeared above the horizon. I took twenty- 
one native trout weighing six and a half pounds. 
They were all about the same size and by no 
means large fish, yet this is a good basket for 
an overfished stream in the United States. Two 
years ago, one perfect summer night, I was 
tempted to try moonlit fishing again, but did 
not have a rise from a trout, while the chub or 
fall fish were a nuisance. One is not much an¬ 
noyed by chub early in the season, but on warm 
days in summer they are sometimes very trouble¬ 
some. I took one of nineteen inches on a large 
fly just below Roscoe, and a well known resi¬ 
dent angler informed me that when ice began to 
form along the lower Beaverkill very large chub 
could be caught. Norris states that they were 
formerly taken in the Schuylkill River up to 
twenty-two inches and weighing three pounds. 
In youth I was fond of chub fishing in large 
rocky streams, and white grub worms, fresh 
water mussels and large grasshoppers were the 
killing baits for fish of one to two pounds. 
The man who has fishing bred in the bone will 
cast his line in anything that looks like water 
and find pleasure in catching almost anything 
that has scales and fins. He may be by nature 
destitute of the virtue of patience, yet he will 
persevere for hours or days in attempting to 
inveigle a few small or almost worthless fish. 
This innate love of sport is one of the best 
gifts of a kind Providence and will do more to 
create and maintain a cheerful spirit than any 
other recreation in the world. 
There are many sorts of fishing just as there 
are many kinds of fish, but especially am I thank¬ 
ful that the brook trout is fond of insects, that 
these insects and their larva are abundant in 
most trout streams, and that they are—with the 
exception of a very few—too delicate and fragile 
to be used upon the hook as bait. For from 
these things sprang the art of fly-fishing hun¬ 
dreds of years ago. Our ancestors saw the fish 
rising and feeding upon the natural flies, doubt¬ 
less they also noted the trout jumping at little 
floating feathers and other trifles when in a play¬ 
ful mood. This led to invention and the creation 
of roughly made artificials with a few duck 
feathers, cock hackles and dubbings. 1 he earl¬ 
iest known fly is said to have been a red cock 
hackle, but they soon learned that the feathers 
of many game birds held colors and mottlings 
in common with the small insects born of the 
water. They looked upon fe*athers, furs, silks 
and wools with new eyes, striving always to im¬ 
prove in the art of imitation, for there is no 
doubt that the ancient angler imitated nature. 
There were not so many theories and theorists 
as in the present age; the differing schools of 
fly-fishers have mostly arisen during the last 
sixty years. 
One reason why this sport has such a peculiar 
fascination for many anglers and that it never 
loses its grip upon young or old is because there 
is always something to learn. You can never ex¬ 
haust its possibilities and endless variety. The 
man who is accounted an expert in one place 
or section of the country may find himself quite 
at sea for a time in another, dhe literature of 
the art is voluminous and interesting, and one 
may pick up many hints and wrinkles in books. 
New works on angling are frequently found 
upon the booksellers’ shelves and counters and 
always find purchasers. We never hear of any 
absolute failures in that line. Of course, as one 
grows older, he becomes a trifle set in his ways. 
He wishes to have his fishing served in a par¬ 
ticular style. If wedded to the artificial fly, he 
may prefer to fish from a boat or canoe in large 
water. Another takes to stream fishing; in fact, 
I have known men who most enjoyed following 
the smallest brooks among the mountains. One 
angler is a dry-fly enthusiast, while his chum 
sticks to the wet-fly. We become so fond of 
fly-fishing that we try it on everything, and. as 
a matter of fact nearly all game fish may be 
taken on some kind of fly at one time or an¬ 
other. I have had quite a varied experience, 
east and west, north and south, and am inclined 
to the belief that the best sport is not found 
where trout, for instance, are most abundant and 
easiest to catch. A fine big stream that is hard 
fished, yet holds good trout and is rich in insect 
life, offers great possibilities for interesting fly¬ 
fishing. 
How it puts a man on his mettle when he sees 
the fish rising all over the shop, but entirely 
ignoring the flies he offers. They are feeding 
and feeding well; you are sure that you can 
take them if you had the right fly. I have seen 
a number of anglers spend a couple of hours at 
one pool. They could not tear themselves away, 
although after a time they realized that all their 
stock flies were too large and mostly too bright 
to counterfeit the tiny dun that was on the 
water. It was great fun as well as exasperating, 
and a day or two later we got a fly that would 
kill under the same conditions. Sometimes the 
fish will take a variety of artificials when rising 
at naturals; again they seem to be taking one 
fly only. 
I have fancied that the color of a particular 
insect might be impressed or photographed in 
the eye until trout became almost blind or indif¬ 
ferent to any other color. We can theorize and 
puzzle to our heart’s content, but we will never 
know it all. A man loses a good deal when he 
gets out of his difficulties by changing to bait. 
He will never know the half of what the arti¬ 
ficial fly is capable of doing. 
Theodore Gordon. 
Trout Fishing Improving. 
Hendersonville, N. C., March 12.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: Last year we planted about 
40,000 trout in this county, both rainbow and 
brook trout, and through the courtesy and kind¬ 
ness of the fishery department we have morq 
coming this spring. Our trout fishing is improv¬ 
ing each year and I look forward to some fine 
sport this spring and summer. 
We are still making efforts for a fish hatchery 
to be established in the neighborhood. Our rep¬ 
resentative introduced a bill in the last Congress, 
but it has not as yet been acted upon. We need 
it and no doubt will eventually have it. 
Ernest L. Ewbank. 
All the fish laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laivs in Brief. See adv. 
