Morning journal and courier., 1890-08-13

straight course down rushing rapid for
ten or fifteen rods more. In this stretch
of the stream 1 have, in the many years
that have fished Pond brook, taken more
trout and larger trout than in any other
part of it. 1t is so open and free from
trees and bushes on one shore that you
can use fly rod with great comfort,
casting.
Once, three years ago, had taken sew
eral good trout from under the bushes at
the upper end of the street, and reached
the head of the swift straight rapid, where
stood on the high grassy bank and cast
down stream. 1 worked the water
thoroughly, beginning with short casts and
extending line till had sixty or seventy
feet out. Nothing rose. Then / paid ont
until the flies q was using two) were pore
than a hundred feet away, swing across
and back, in and over the rushing water.
I forgot that was fishing, and watched
the action of the flies, practicing with
them to make their action hfe-life, think
ing for the moment only that / was dane
! ing flies on a running stream. Then j be-
gan 20 real in line, and the tail tapped in
the current close to the boulders on my
shore, while the upper fly, small golden
pheasant feather, hung loosely swinging in
the air three or four inches above the wa
| ter. There was trout under those rocks.
He had seen those flies for several minutes,
and what he had thought about them must
be matter of conjecture. Perhaps he sus-
pected them to be shams. Perhaps he was
not in feeding mood. Probably he was
| in that condition in which men often find
themselves, comfortable and lazy, to much
so to be easily induced to disturb himself
There are moral lessons to be learned in
| angling. Here was one Temptation NAV
| be steadily withstood, but the moment of
yielding comes like a flash. The price of
| successful resistance is eternal unwavering
yigilant self-restraint. Something that
| was very life-like, fiutter of the wing, a
gleam of light on the golden feather, a
doubling or outstretching of the hackie
| legs, a curve in the water through which
| he was looking, something caught the trout
| intellect, broke into the caution with
| which he had surrounded himself and he
| went with a rush for that fly.
| I, standing on the bank nearly hun
/ dred feet up the stream, and knowing
| nothing or the intellectual struggle going
on down there and having, withal, totally
| forgotten that 1 angling, was astonished
\ and startled when that noble fish went in
| to the air, sending a cloud of spray over
| the fly and himself falling with his broad
| side on the hook. Trout take the fly in
various ways. They are skillful by ex-
perience. In far the most instances, when
| the fly is on or near the water the fish
strikes it with its tail and turns quickly to
seize it in his mouth. 1t is a charming
| sight to watch an insect passing over a
| shadow, where trout are numerous, near
| the mouth of a cool brook, or on a broad
rapid, and see the tails of the fish dash
water at him. Often you may see, as
flies light on the water, the broad tail of a
large fish swash over one, and then the
swirl as the head swings around and the
takes in the half-drowned fly. 1t is very
common therefore, when fishing with flies,
to hook fish through the tail fin. Often q
fish throws his whole body over an insect.
the air, mouth open, and engulf fly in
his throat. This is an interesting sight
when it occurs, for you will remember
| that looking from below the water into
the air, unless the view be perpendicular
the line of vision is around corner, along
the angle of refraction of light The in
sect is Sne, two or more inches away from
the straight line of vision, and if the fisl
Il leaps for the insect on the direct. line %
kEision, he will certainly miss him. ID
tf6ualearn by sSSsfience the principal oi
the refracdon OF light in passing through
different mediumsl
1 did not hook this trout. He hooked
himself. As he fell on the fly the hook
pierced his skin Just below the adipose fin,
close to the tail fin. If he had been
hooked in the regular way, in his mouth,
l should probably have lost him, because
of what next occurred. The high grassy
bank on which l was standing was some
ten feet above the stream, cut away in the
spring freshets SO that the turf extended
to the edge, and the earth mixed with
loose stone sloped steeply down to the rap
id, bordered here with round water-worr
stones fallen from this crumbling bank
The trout found moral lesson ut the fly
end of my tackle. Concerning tempta
ton, found another lesson at the other
extreme of the tackle, the butt of my rod
"Let him that thinketh he standeth," etc
AS the fish leaped L suddenly stepped for
ward. The bank gave way like dry dust
under my feet, and / sat down with a tire
mendous thud on the edge of the sod
No, not on it, but in it, for / went dowT
through it first with a crush of earth and
dust and stones, then, as my heels dul
through the loose material below; with
slow but sure descent which nothing coulS
arrest. had but one hand to use, for tn
rod was in my right hand and that fisl
|
the reel was paying out, and there was no
more than thirty feet of line left on it. an,
below that rapid was a hole full of brush
whence one could never hope to recove
hooks, much less a trout.
1t was a glorious day, like to-day, witt
a clear sunshine glittering over the rapid
1 remember distinctly how my high blacl
waterproof boots shone as they descendes
into the glitter. The round stones contin
ually gave way under me, and sat dow
lower, lower, lower in swift procession
until was sitting nearly up to my wais
in the river, my rod by some mysteriou
instinct transferred from my right to m,
left hand, while with the latter 1 was bra
| cling myself against boulder which wa
only few inches under water. But 70
that boulder should have rolled over an
over in the current.
Standing up in a stream of water is no
, so easy as it may seem. Rising to You
feet after sitting down in it is wholly al
other affair from getting up from th
ground, in the air. Without knowing il
! we stand, walk, sit up, move about, swim
: and manage our bodies by a continual e,
ertion of mind, as well as muscle. A dea
man cannot stand. A child must learn b
. experience to walk, and by slow practic
acquire the use of the countless muscle:
from head and eyes to feet and toes, whic
, are essential to standing, walking and run
: ming. All this experience we acquire j
; the air. In the water, where a pound c
flesh no longer presses downward an a'
:, oirdupois pound, much of our atmosphel
| ic experience is useless. With n heay
medium like water moving around us, it
no easy thing to regain foothold once los
r And this is why many persons are browne
in water in which, with due presence {
mind thew could stand up ON hard bottol