The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-05-27

| ana scarlet ny with DlacK Douy proven
quite attractive in very clear pools,
where the stream banks would admit of
casting from concealed place. In times
when the water was murky white tuft
of feathers with brown and yellow body
would sometimes get ready attention
| from a lurking bass. One cannot alto
gether trust manufacturers advertise
ments ON killing flies. Fly-hshing for
bass is yet in its experimental stage, and
each angler ought to try his own hand at
tying fly. At all times and under ev-
cry kind of circumstances angling is
| more pursuit Of nature and her charms
than it IS race after fish. Hearing a
brook sing in the shady places of the
woods is charming enough, quite apart
from any considerations of sport, and
when the zest of now and then a
vigorous rise is added one gets
the very essence of that recreation
for which we all long. Then
there are the woody odors and the keen
perfumes, the wind-sounds and the bird
voices. If ones eyes are kept open it is
like reading some wonderfully fresh and
original book with charming illustrations
and Illuminated initials and tail-pieces.
Nothing in nature is conventionalized-
all is a constant stream of fitting but
clearly drawn sketches of ever-fresh
ideas, flowing on like wind or river.
The angler, happily, is not intent on
studying nature. He sees all her beau
ties and Kaleidoscope changes with that
precious indirect vision which falls just
short of philosophic reverie. while his
direct vision is focused on the point where
his cast has landed his fly. Your true
angler does not envy the fellow who,
sweating and dirty. fighting mosquitoes
and hopping his face on his sleeve, goes
in for catch at all hazards and wades
along in the broiling sunlight with
minnow-bucket in one hand and a six
teen foot rod in the other, There is no
such thing as recreation and rational en-
joyment in that sort of thing. 1t may
be good way to kill fish, but it is also a
good way to kill man. Suffering for
sport is at best a ludicrous paradox,
Our smaller streams, such as may
properly be called brooks, are the best
for really fine bass-angling, no matter
what sort of lure is used, and they are
especially suited to fy-fishing, Where
these brooks are bordered with willows,
or overshadowed by trees of greater
growth, such as naples and planer
trees, tly-fishing is much more certain
than where the streams flow through
fields or prairies. The falling of natural
beetles, moths, and other insects into the
water from the foliage tends, no doubt,
to keeping the fish watchful for such
prey, wherefore the gay-winged fly Of
the angler is taken with greedy haste if
properly delivered. 1r' b.. f..
A bass is wise fish and warily avoids
any mysterious lure. The thing offered
him must be artistic, if not natlral-no
bungling counterfeit will deceive him
In tying your flies you need follow no
man's'model, but you must make fair
impression of some natural insect. |
have found that large grashopper with
his gay wings spread is at times quite
killing in shallow streams either skittered
or used as a sunken bait. A successful
imitation of this lure would not be hard
to tie. Some of our smaller butterflies,
too, are greedily taken by bass in mid
summer. w. phh .hNL }A'.. ''"iff
After all we may catch no bass, for Of
all uncertain things fly-fshing is the ex-
treme. Promising pools and inviting
rapids often seem to twinkle with ma
licious delight as they observe the I'M
faltering faith of the angler. The little
eddies and whirlpools make wry faces
and comic grimaces at one as cast after
cast results in failure. The stream has
a hundred, nay, countless multitude
of jeering and ehuckiing and taunting
voices. But the patient angler gives no
heed to all this. The next cast, or the
next, or next, is to be the lucky one
He lives on hope-immediate and urgent
hope, hope on tip-toe, preposterously
accumulated and inconsistent hope. But
he falters with the faltering day, and
goes home through the twilight full of
ozone and fresh ideas. Here, at last, is
the value of bass angling. 1t is near to
our doors. Itrequires no great prepara-
ton, no long journey, no extended alb
sence from home and affairs, no extrav-
agant expenditure of money, and yet it
fulfills the best purposes of outdoor
sport, and brings one at once into the
presence and under the influence of
nature in her charmingest moods. To
pluck moccasfi flower in the wild
woods of Indiana is quite as enjoyable as
to pick acyclamen in Europe. To catch
a two-pound bass in brook of Illinois. is
just as rare sport as to kill a fingerling
trout in a mountain brook of Pennsyf-
vania, or to blister ones hands hauling
in blue-fish oA'the Jersey coast.
BasS-anglers usually carry rods much
too heavy. A good strong bamboo or
cheaper tly-rod will be found quite suited
to our smaller streams, where bass of
more than two pounds are rarely killed.
A hundred feet sof line will usually be
more than is needed. Indeed, 1 have
rarely found fifty feet necessary. = Mnn-