St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-30
Hunting the Tufted Chicken
and Crested Duck the
Rage.
Some Idea Of Classic Fishing
in the Days Of Blind
Homer.
The Modern Tendency Of the
Art Of Enticing
Fishes.


elastic bamboo must be laid away and
salmo fontinalis given long rest, II
Inc close season on trout is dutifully OBJ
served. But among the followers of
Walton there are many who will, until
ate in the fall, frequent the rivers and
lakes, retaining stronger tackle with
which to combat the pugnacious bass
and the cannibal pike. Still with the
opening of September the reign of the
angler to q great extent becomes sec
ondary to the claims of his cOmpeer of
the chase, and with the advent of the
hunter the quietude of forest and prairie
is broken by the clash of firearms and
the flight of startled birds.
From his hiding place in a deep pool
beneath Wide-Spreading tree tops the
trout beholds the tables turned upon his
friend the lordly grouse, who during the
summer months, from a safe perch, has
seen the angler wave the plant lance
wood to the discontinue of the speckled
beauties. But the order of things is re-
yersed. Immunity from peril Is vouch-
Safed to the denizenS of the brooklet,
while the feathered pride of the woods
is now in imminent danger. Now that
the gentle art" is soon to become
matter of pleasant recollection until an
other season rolls around, it is fitting
that the antecedentS of the sport be-
come a subject for discussion. Whence
came the angler? Why is he referred
to as gentle exponent of sport? Sturdy
limbs and a tireless physique must
attend the successful whipping of
mountain current. No weakling can
furnish the amount of strength and en-
durance necessary in wading rocky bot
toms and climbing the precipitous
banks bordering the haunts of that
ariStocrat among inland fish, the trout.
The idea of delicate constitutions and
effeminate manners is not associated
with the forest bivouac, the blazing
camp fire and the rugged nOmadic life.
Still, history does not dignity the sport
with the association of heroes.
Pans of praise and volumes of epics
have been dedicated to the hunter, from
the time of Homer down, while but
slight mention is accorded the angler.
The warIike Greek and the mighty RO-
man claSSed fishermen as breadwinnerS
among the common people, and denied
them place among the national sports.
Fish did not appear upon the tables or
the Grecian warriors at ancient Troy,
and as the camp was close upon the
shore, short distance below the Helle-
spont, which abounded in fish, it must
be supposed that they did not consider
it fit and wholesome food for cOnQuererS
and lawgivers.
Two instances occur in the writings
of Homer where we find direct mention
OF fish for food, and then only upon dire
necessity. Where OdYsseus and his COM
panionS are reduced to approximate
starvation, Just before they adopt the
fatal counsel of EurylOchOs to devOur
the oxen of the sun, will be noticed
reference to fish as food. and is con-
tanned in the following passage from
the Odyssey:
Long as my companions had store OF bread
and wine that is ruddy.
So long restrained they their hands from the
oxen, although they were hungry.
But when, indeed, our supplies had entirely
failed from the vessel
Then by necessity driven they fell upon
game that was lawful;
Fishes and birds, as well-whatever chance
brought to their hands;
Using hooks that were bent-for hunger was
gnawing their stOmachs."
Again, when Odysseus and his men
were confined upon the desert island of
Pharos. just off the mouth of the Nile,
in like manner did the men relieve their
distress.
Roaming about by myself. she found m e
apart from my comrades,
Ali the time strolling were these along by the
shores of the island,
Fishing with crooked hooks; but hunger was
gnawing their stomachs."
The practice of bait fishing is de-
scribed In the great epic, in a compari-
son which is introduced to Illustrate the
manner in which the monster Scylla
seized the crew of OdySSeuS as they
sailed past the dreaded Charybdis.
"Just as fisherman casts with his rod from
ledge overhanging,
Throwing enticing bait to deceive the deli
cate fishes,
Letting down into the sea a bit of the horn
of the wild OK,
Jerks from its house and its home the fish he
catches-now gasping,
So were these, GREATNESS from fright,
snatched off and dashed to the lodges. -
Fishermen in the days of Homer evil
IDENTIFY mad learned to save their hooks.
protect their lines, and capture their
fish, as will be noted by the allnSion to
the bit of OK horn that was let down
into the water. The meaning of the
somewhat puZZling reference to the
to indicate a squid bait, is, however, eX-
planned and made clear in the last book
of the Had, where Prlam ranSomed
the dead body Of his son. In this pas
sage it is shown that the horn is slipped
over the line to protect it from the sharp
teeth of the captured fish. Tarpon fish
ermen will particularly be struck with
| the alluSlon:
"He spake, and with foot of the blast went
Iris to carry the message.
Midway between the isles of Samos and I'm
brus the rugged
Plunged she into the sea; the waters around
her were troubled.
just like plummet of lead the goddess sank
to the bottom,
Lead at the snd of line that runs through a
casiGs OF OK horn.
Downward goes on It's way bearing death 10
the ravenous fishes"
Passing to the time of the apostles
the Holy Scriptures shed little light
upon angling, and we again find the
fisherman classed, not as an angler, but
a; drawer of SeineS to provide food
for the poorer classes of people. No
where do we find it classed among
sports and elevated to a place among
noble deeds and skillful accomplish
ments akin to hunting, until within
comparatively modern times.
The earliest publication upon angling
was in the fifteenth century, but ang-
lers rarely refer to the work of the
Dame Juliana Berners, who wrote the
first treatise on the bank of st. Adams
in 1886. Angling sportsmen generally
refer the birth of their art to ISaak Wal
ton, who published his Complete Ang-
Ter in 1868, when upwards of sixty years
of age. The revered Izaak seems
to have been mild-mannered.
indolent, lovable, old body who delighted
to ''augle with a worm" He was per-
sistent bait fisherman, skilled in the use
of the worm, frog and grasshopper, but
concerning fly fishing he was prone to
defer to the advice of his friend Cotton.
There is something grOtesque in the at
tempt to associate this old man, sitting
in his boat. or astride an overhanging
log, waiting for bite, the persOnifica-
ton of still-fisherman. with the ath-
letic and sturdy fly angler, who tears
his way through thicket and meadow,
splashing up swift torrents, clambering