The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-31
NIGHT TROUT FISHING.
There Are Queer Things About 1t That
Give II Fascination.

Night trout fishing Is form Of sport
that the regular hy-caster has not tried
and would dlsdain to try, but 1t has ita
merits. Not the least OF them Is that the
trout, through some crankness Of its
nature, will often bite after dark when all
through the day it lies motonless at the
bottom Of q pool and refuses to rise to the
most tempting lures. At such periods the
entire nature OF the fish seems to have
changed and It mas become . night hawk,
rowing its native stream from dusk to day
light and sleeping through the sun hours.
There IL no such thing as taking half
a basket Of trout after dark with the fly.
Changed as the fish is, it still has sense
enough to know that insects it likes are
not broad at that hour.
Occasionally one will rise to an arti-
ncial hy cast In the dark, but this is so
exceptional a. not to be worth counting. 1t
will take the worm avidly. however. when
II 10 night feeding. and 1t is with worms
that the night fisherman takes it.
There ia no explanation Of how the trout
manage to see the worms IN the dark.
BY a sense OF smell.
Where there Is one trout there are apt
to he more, and the angler who has taken
one with his bunch Of worms may con-
fidently drop them into the same place.
Indeed, the chances are that he will land a
half dozen beauties before he is forced to
move on by failure Of supply.
The sensation afforded is an odd one,
because the fisherman cannot see his line,
nor tell when the trout strikes except by
the Jerk. All he can see is the trees waving
darkly against the sky on the bank OF a
river that ia only dimly visible and now
and then he catches a glimpse Of his rod
which looks like line no bigger than q
lead pencil running out over the water.
He fights his trout blindly. he has no
knowledge OF the movements 1t Is making
nor has he any idea Of its size, except from
the trouble it gives him, until it has been
scooped within a dipnet struck downward
blindy and lies gasping on the bank. With
a heavy trout under these circurnst ances,
Ia seriously at disadvantage. II is this
very uncert ainty which lends night fishing
it's charm to some men.
In some parts OF the Province o. Quebec,
the custom OF the country people to fish
for brook trout almost wholly after dark,
and they take them in enormous numbers.
These folk are not refined enough to use
supple hy-rod and silk line.
cut on the banks OF the creek or river, and
stout linen cords. To their hooks they
fasten half dozen worms and drop them
in wriggling, and when they get a strike
they yank the fish fifteen feet In the air /.
landing it on the bank behind them with a
thump. They always build large fire
on the bank and the trout are attracted by
the light, coming In schools to the feeding.
At such . place In proper season, half a
dozen men and women will BE- yanking out
them from tho hooks and will keep this
sort Of thing up for an hour, going back
to their homes before midnight With two
or three hundred speckled beauties.
The trout taken In these streams are all
but exceedingly hne table fish, with the
bright salmon flesh and true trout deli
cAcy OF flavor.