The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-04-01
TEMPTING THE WARY TROUT.
In the Spring an Anglers Fancy
Turns to Thoughts of Sport.
Copyright 1897
NRW YOPR March 90 A man will al

ence OF vernal sunshine If he is sentimental
ne may go crazy, but if he loves the rod
and reel he will go fishing and save himself
the humiliation of a bad sonnet. His i'm
agination will be filled with the gurgling of
mountain streams Ten to one he Will hook
his game before the day dream is over and
go through all the excitement Of desper-
ate struggle with big trout.
Early last soring improved toe first OPP
portunity to equip myself for days sport
with the trout | wore rubber hip boots Of
light weight, which had been provided with
an extra sole made of leather, literally
sprinkled with hob nails.
| had donned an old canvas cunning
coat, which, on account Of its many pockets
is the most convenient Of all coats to wear
on trouting expedition. Its big hack
pocket concealed a generous lunch-the
other pockets were filled with the necessary
implements for the days spOrt-such as fly
book, jack knife, matches, tobacco, etc. |
would rather take one fish on fly than two
by bait, but thinking | might find place
where fly could not be cast, had slowed
away good sized bunch of worms in my
side Docket-don't be disguised fastidious
reader-a tin bait box decorated with bright
red paint is all very nice and pretty in a
show case, but on a rough trout stream i. is
extremely cumbersome AID, what's worse,
the lid has habit Of its own in flying open
and spllling the worms The knowing ang-
Ter uses his pocket, which can be lined with
oil silk and is easily cleaned on reaching
home Arriving at the stream intended fish
ing, | found it to be very narrow and thickly
lined with bushes, over which it would be
practically impossible to cast fly. | there
fore put on a two foot leader and to that
attached a No. Aberdeen hook, selecting
for sinker a split 4ot of sufficient weight
to resist the current A Industrious fish
erman will neeI four or five sizes of shot
and he will have to split good share of his
supply with his own jack-knife, which is
difficult unless he KIN Tvs how II can be
done very easily by driving the shot into a
pine board or table until it is partially en-
bedde1, about one and half inches from
an ordinary staple which should be forced
| firmly into the wood. TIE end of the
knife blade should be placed under the
staple so as to make the shot the fulcrum Of
leverage.
On securing the shot some six inches from
| the hook | selected medium sized worm
| the red ones are the best-and looped it on
the hook, leaving plenty of ends sticking
out This to the eyes Of a large trout (for
the big ones, mark you, are hard to sui0
| has the appearance of a dainty morsel.
| Facing the sun so that my shadow would
not fall on the water, | approached the
stream, taking care not to jar the ground
| or allow my rod to stir the bushes The
hook struck the water in exactly the place l
| desi red, but the fish, if there, were above
Leill pLdtlOu. "A llLLIe discouraged, L IOl-
| lowed the stream as closely to the edge as
| possible in search of another promising
pool and presently my ear caught the sound
| OF falling water. Pushing my head through
a clump of willows, discovered it was
| only a few feet away. The scene was one
to thrill the heart of a trout hunter. A
| shady pool below the plunge with foam
| covered eddy and tangle of drift wood on
one side. 1t was just the place for good re-
| suits, but on reaching the spot found it
| would take consid cradle skill to get nv
| hook where | desired 1t, as there was only
| peep hole through W ich to poke my rod
| | had expected 0 find some such places as
| this and for that reason was using a short
| leader. and reeing in my line until the con-
| Meeting knot touched tue tip, | succeeded in
| poKing it through and dropping the bait
into the foam. The shot hal hardly sunk
| below the scum, when, with a rush, my tip
| was jerked iuto the water and before |
could play out any line, the second joint
went under 1t was nasty place to tig1t
| fish and | considered myself fortunate in
| finally landing specklei beauty, weighing
about pound, and dark colored, as is gem
| orally the case with trout taken from mud
| bottom streams.
The trout and myself had kicked up such
a rumpus that the stream was rily for some
| distance down; it also being so hard a place
to fish, decided to push ahead to the main
creek. o. reaching it, l substituted the
| short leader for three yarder, suitable for
| flies
Before leaving town, had taken care to
| I'LL my book with a good assortment Of flies,
| the cream of which were: The Light of
| Montreal" Split Ibis, Scarlet Ibis, Coach
man, Professor. Brown Hackle, Abbey,
Grizzly King Dark Montreal, Silver Doc
tor, Brown Hen, jungle Cock and White
| Miller. The general rule is to use light
| fly on a dark day and Vice versa. 1t beng
somewhat cloudy, selected for my tail fly
or stretcher the Red lois, and used for the
| second, or dropper, a COachman. The best
way to attach the dropper is to take the fl
| and cut from it the loop on its smell, being
careful to cut it above the knot. The nine
| foot leader is composed of three sections.
Slip apart the loops thai join the first two,
counting from the tail fly and place the
| end of the cut smell between them.
| l have never known a Hy attached in this
way to slip. There is 10 danger Of crack
ing the dry smell. and different fly can be
substituted with little trouble After my
gang was satisfactorily arranged and the
point of one of the hooks sharE ened with
nail file, which every fisherman should have
| in his hy-book, started down the stream.
wading through the center of it and casting
| in every likely hole, now and then taking
fish, but all of them under quarter of a
| pound. Having out but fifteen feet of line.
l made a cast to lengthen It, The dropper
had barely touched the water before 1t was
| grabbed. When l realized what had hap
| pened, l found the tricky rascal was steer
| ing me straight for the submerged root of
| stump on the edge of pool. | held as st fl
line as dared to for fear he would get
me snagged, but he was so strong that
was unable to stop him. Angry at the
steady tension of the bamboo, he flew in a
! rage before reaching his desli alton and
started at race horse speed for the reef be-
! low. The line cuts the water like a knife
and the reel is spinning 1t would be folly
| to try to stop him. He reaches the reef and
FORCES ahead with the current, now swim
ming and now rolling over and over on the
! pebbles, often showing as he goes splas ing
| aud iounderiug through the shallow water.
! Great Scottl he has thrown himself high
and dry on a large fiat stonel Caution is
! forg tten in the excitement of tr ring to
reach him. l slip, stumble on a stone and
! find myself sprawllEg in the stream. l did
not for one moment lose sight that trout
! and am quickly on my feet again. But as l
stoop to pick up the prize he floFs into the
water. Down stream he goes and as the
slack folds of braided silk have not tangled
| it is quickly run out, and once more | hear
the merry click OF the reel.
1t is with deep sigh of relief and short
| prayer of thanks that sec the race horse
pass over a low fall and sulk in the bottom
! OF the pool below. II will not do TO let him