The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-08-09
TALKING ABOUT FISH.

man a lingering or the savage, ana tnat
occasionally he wishes to throw off the
restraints which society imposes and get
as near to nature as possible. In al
NEST every community there are men who
periodically feel it in their blood that they
must go "a fishing" Their wives can tell
when the fever is coming on by symptoms
as well marked as when mothers know
that their children are going to have the
measles 1t takes mighty good" woman
to be the wife of man who loves to
fish unless indeed she likes also TO throw
the line and catch the finny tribe.
Fishermen, like poets, are born, not
made. No man can be taught to fish.
Unless he has the fisherman instlEct-un-
less the compulsion within him constrains
him to "go a-fshing will never be-
come disciple of Isaak Walton. He may,
indeed, learn how to catch an unwary fish
now and then, just as man who Is
not poet may make a few rhymes. But
unless he is born a fisherman he will
never have ''luck.' Some orators tell us
that there is no SCH thing as luck-that
"luck's a fool: pluclk's a hero" That
maxim has no reference to fishing. There
is everything III, being born to luck in
fishing Observe two men on the side of
creek They wear the same sort or
clothes. they use the same kind OF hook
and line and dig their bait at the same
place An ordinary observer could not
detect the divine afflatus' that rests on
the born fisherman. But it is there. He
will catch fish without trouble, and plenty
of them, while his companion will get
mary a bite" The explanation? One
is fisherman born; the other is not.
There is no other explanation among men.
We may find one in the Fisherman's
Paradise, but not on this mundane sphere.
What is the most delicious fish found in
North Carolina waters and where is the
best place to fish? Whether considered
economically, aesthetically, financially. or
| that is a momentous question-one too
great for one editor or any other one man
to presume to pass upon, for lsaak
Walton says: Angling may be SAID to
be like the mathematics, that it can never
be fully learned; at least not so fully but
| that there will still be more new expert
ments left for the trial of other men that
succeed U.S.
The fishing industry of North Caro-
lima, considering only the com
mercial value of those caught by
men who make fishing a trade-amounts
to s1,S16,O0o dollars every year. And it is
a growing industry. But this is the small
est portion of its financial value. There
is no way of even approximately estimat-
| ing the money value of the hundreds of
| thousands of fish that make up an I'M
portant article of food in the many homes
| in North Carolina. There is no diet more
palatable, more satisfying, and more nour-
ishing than the various kinds of fish that
are caught in North Carolina waters, from
the mountain trout on The Roam to the
Spanish mackerel at Morehead. One OF
the reasons why North Carolina folks are
so brainy and so wise is that they partake
of large quantities of brain foolish. 1t
is a happy omen that, co-existent with
the educational revival we are having a
new revival of stocking our waters and
mill ponds with fish-providing, so to
speak. more brains to take In the new
instruction that better schools are I'M
parting.
z "
7 Elsewhere we print the views Of various
experts on the best fish in North Carolina
and the best place to fish. There are
manv opinions. "In a multitude OF coun
sellers there is wisdom" 1t will be OBJ
served that most of those who write give
the preference to fish in the waters near
their home, showing that today as IN
Bible times men believe that the waters
of their own country are superior to those
of any other section. The conversion OF
i Cant 9 A. Ashe a native of New Han