The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1861-02-27
Winter Piscation.

w IIH W tiaI iJiltuti tIliiidLiOu3 " SCu-
tie reader, do we, fishermen, tug at
buge pike which we have hooked. How
grateful to us is, the initial saapping at the
bait-the first impatient pull upon tie
line; and wl en- we have fish tight and
fast, how tho blood courses through the
veins, and leaps and bubbles in every ar
iery of our corpus. Docs the fish make
desperate flounces, note, 0, unskiled
tyro. that We gyrate him in graceful,
see,nlv curves. Now, Gin the dead waist
and middle o tn winter" while the at
mosphere is resonant with jingllug sleigh
bells, and our spiritual essence is redolent
with the divine cxhalations of "pung"-
borne feMininity, or could, or ought, or
might be so,-eYen now, &e do long for
asummcr scat upon some decaying log
adjacent to deep eddy of the stream,
whereilto we could insinuate an irn3ale d
worm, ard wherefrom, Shade of Sir
Isaac WALToS, bow we would extricate
fish.
1t is NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. on
the qui viue, is this sitting, and angling,
and living in constant expectation of
bite. Does the finest discrimination de-
sect aquiver in the float,-it thrills from
outer cutcs to inmoSt marrow. AL
though we have been betrayed by
thousand false alarms, the least motion
OF the line. or the feeblest nibbl9 at the
bait, still thrills us with intensest interest.
That decided, emphatic yamk! 1t fairly
jars us. The explosive concussation of
battery of ponderous ordnance would
not moro etfoctually arouse us. Weeon
slider this condition the elimination Of
tantalizing expectancy.
From the mental trials to which the
persistent fisher is subject, we must ex-
pect a continued process of publication.
Does lie not wait, even to tho end. for
something to turn upi"-eves SO he
doth. As he sits on a mossy bank, with
pole in hand, docs he not elevate HE
mind, step by step,--cyc!o by cycle
through and over the superintendent
and cIrcumferential aud eternaIly rising
grxdatiOns of the siR-bottomcd and heay-
en-topt tower of ever purifying intelli-
geucei OF course he doth. THUS alter
natelv, be holds sweet communion
with nature" and with the exalted spir-
itual essence of defunct anglers, now star
ward borne through the attenuated me
dunn Of three times thrice refined
spiritual lung fodder, wherein the spirits
do locate. each according to his individ-
ual granulation and the specific gravity
of his atomic composition, and herein lies
the philosophical exercise of piscatorial
employment.
How gloriousIy balanced is the mind
Of the comprehensive angler. and all the
small virtues are chry stalled in bis men
tai composition. His patience is unbound
ed. In temperance, he exceedeth the
camel; in hope, he vieth with the holder
of lottery ticket; in mercy, he emuIateth
shs clemency shown to the defauters OF
eur Government; in justice, he surpass-
eth Judge of the Supreme Court of the
United States. So constituted he indul
ges in philosophical speculation in all his
sngIings. His spiritual experiences Civ.
en- to the world would be treasure, but
wearied with chickering's over trivial ques
tions, your true fisherman soaks up al
his philosophical lucubrations, leaving
nothing to be the subject of future war
fare. All the fisher, the gentle, kind
e-hsarted fisher, is stuff for the verte
bral column of your social structure.
We sometimes fish We have fsheC
for pike during the present Winter; ant
thus the mode of the operation:
Oar course, with slightly Southernly
angle, follows the falling sun, and fiery
stseds, lashsd to our piscing car, bear u:
swiftly over the snow blu rdenod earth
On either side tue monarchs of the forest
stretch heavenw8rd their bare and leafles:
arms. Tie brooks sing no more their
summer melodies, but smothered, creep
mourDfuly away in their icy letters, just
as the last blush of day, faded upon the
submits of the towering bluffs, We stood
upon the banks of the Father of Waters.
lTrans.-FrOrn this village wo drove
over the big woods road to Diamond
Blutf OR the Mississippi-when we went
fshng.l s,
IA PhoObus drove his car athwart the
Easterp hor;1ap. re aross from our