The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-10

Nertbwsvtern Woods Is Ripe f0s
1hsse VINO Despise an Empty Basket
and Arc Not Welded to the F1y-Tus'
sIes through Drifted Logs with
Bright spotted Fellows Make q
Stirring OF the Blood In Spring Time.
There is no ice in any one OF the bold
harrow streams which run into Lake Su-
perior; there is no ice in any water below
the Canadian line; spring trout fishing has
begun. In the upper country the nights
are still cold enough to harden the surface
Of the ground and draw thin Aim over
standing water. but in the sun il warmth
and everywhere is the fresh smell OF reviv-
ing nature.
The trout have come from the bottoms
OF the deepest river holes. wherein they
have lain the long months through. only
half alive they are hungry after their
lengthy fast: they are active with the
strsngth of their reawakened desires and
they viii have to learn all over again the
ceNtion that protected them in the heats
Of summer and chills Of autumn. man
may All his basket now with much less labor
than &ill be required of him in August and
September and he will display also much
hes science.
II he be q true angler the early spring
Ashing will fail TO appeal to him as the
hshing OF summer will appeal but he will
feNl the irresistible JOY which comes TO all
living things that have been confined in
winter and have come once more In touch
With the vernal earth. II he be simply
sfteS Ash meat caring little how it is OBJ
tained no that 1t be taken with hook and
line, he will have more fun in May than in
sny other month. for his results will be
hsavisr and more numerous.
This il not the time for the fly. The
Sip cast, the wheel the overhead. the
sroli. are things to be done with the tapered
silk later on. Trout rise TO flies when there
are Nies to rse to. There are no flies
abroad yet They will come with the latter
part Of May, but 1t Is seldom now that an
insect OF any kind can be seen in air.
An occasional mosquito stirred into life
by the sun buzzes about and sings song
Of wrath to come and the wonderful house,
~ may be seen crawling over a log twenty
miles from any habitation, but there is
lack Of all the gaudy plump bugs in which
two feet In air when the June sun is sinking.
The angleworm is now the thing.
Charles Darwin once wrote a thesis prov
Ing that this sinuous and humble deliver
10 one Of the most potent of natures benef-
cent forces, but ne did not know how good
tn worm IL for trout. Izaak Walton
knew eli about 1t in the first part OF the
seventeenth century. and next To his in
junction .Be quiet he uttered and cher
ished the Injunction Find. dig and scour
snsie worms II you can" Indeed. there
b no time of year when the trout will dis
dain the worm II so be that the fish are
feeding at all, and many anglers who leave
camp In the morning with flybook sticking
ostent atiously from coat pocket have yet
Q secret can OF worms slowed out OF sight.
They return at night with full creels to
talk Of the Jock Scott" and the Black
Doctor and how such noble fellow hit
At a brown hackle from clear across the
pool but the worm it ia that has made them
prosperous. Early in May man may
leave his hy-book in the tent, for all OF the
casting that he does vii! avail him nothing
except in the way Of practice.
Tho trout at this season does not strike
At any surface lure, because there is no
surface food for him. II is ahead of the
season for moths, grasshoppers, cater
pillars and such things as usually fall from
the trees or are swept in by rains, and he
10 looking now for minnows or small perch
or other forms of eatables which are to he
sought below the surface. Consequently,
the angler does not get that ccstatic thrill
which comes from a surface strike when
the water in violently broken by the leap
and often the whole form Of the darling
fish II displayed. Instead. all OF the work is
done two feet down. and he knows that
the trout has struck when his line starts
away, or he feels that succession Of jerks
which telegraphs from rod-tip to elbow
and from elbow to brain that there IL some
thing doing.
The streams which empty in to Lake
Superior In Minnesota. Wisconsin or Michi-
gan arc full now. They have been swollen
by melting SHOWS and by April rains. The
waters are nearly to the submits OF the
banks: they are swift and foamy: they
contain much driftwood; they are fire.
queotly muddy. They have not the diamond
sparkling purity Of midsummer and the
tlrbid. yellowish water is ioe-cold still
Some OF 1t IL 30 thick that a fab could not
- dy from yard down.
The woods lack the new green. The
naples, birches and beeches are budding.
but have not leaved The hemlocks and
vines are green. but the green is the black
green OF the evergreen, not the pale green
OF spring There is fresh grass only in
sheltered sunny places; for the rest rotting
dark leaves are on the ground. The scene,
10 m idle man Is gloomy and only the
indescribable scent Of things tells Of the
coming re-birth. But the angler is not
idle and on his first day pays little heed
to the sombreness of surroundings. He
is out after fish and fish Is what he thinks Of.
Inevitably he has brought his flies, be-
cause the trout angler would as soon think
Of going into the woods without his
akin. and despite past experience and
common sense. he will try them on the
morning of the first day: catching nothing,
he will get down TO first principles which
arc worms. He has bought these worms
In the city. knowing that they are not to
DO had In the forest, and he has secured
them for three days and nights. keeping
them packed in moss 30 that now they
are . clear, brilliant, healthy red
There 10 no casting to be done with worms,
that 10. no casting worthy Of the name.
4 man may stand on the bank Of a pool
and send them out and reel them in, but
1t 10 foolish performance and profitless.
for the trout know that worms have no
49, Al ,