The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-20
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| for the early worm. The Sinall
boy often Is the birds rival
kz1H1Si have seen the boy at one end Of
- garden digging for worms with a
spade, while at the other end of the lot was
a robin dclving with its bill. The boy
warted bait for angling, while the bird was
seeking its breakfast To the boy the dig
ging was the precursor of eXDectant sport
with the first red-eyes of the spring. while
TO the robin the quest meant work for
food.
What boy within walking distance of a
fishing stream. has not, in the first balmy
days of spring. fell a longing to visit the
creek that last year yielded red-oyes sun
fish or black bass 10 his cunning and skill?
And where is the boy who has not. when
that longing took firm hold of him, stole
away from work or scnooi-played
hockey, perhaps-hunted for an old tin
can filed it with worms and earth. hurried
to the creek, cut and trimmed willow
branch for a pole, carefully tied a line TO
the end. put on a hook. impaled a worm,
sometimes two or three to make on appctiz-
ing bait. and cast the squirming mass into
the water near a pile of logs beside
huge bowlder?
And the JOY when tug was felt!
And the excitement and exultation when
a red-eye as big as a mans hand was
quickly flung on the bank!
What a shout followed. providing a COM
panion was near School was forgotten.
Mothers admonition was not thought of,
and fathers anger and the household strap
were no, terrors for the time being.
No boy that has not stolen pleasure in
this way has made the most of the spring
time of life. Innocent sport that can still
the dread of a schoolmaster's wrath or of
a fathers whipping is sport worth achiev-
ing.
And when the bawlng of the cows
reminded the boy that supper time was APP
preaching, how fondly he looked at his
fish. perhaps half dozen more strung
safely on a pliabe willow branch, and
then fastened home hoping that the evil
dence of his skill would be regarded as an
offset to his transgression.
And how he was mistaken I recall an in
cident of my own boyhood .days-an ex-
perience that probably many boys have
had. played hockey, went fishing caught
a nice string of rock bass, took them home
and confessed what 1 had done, hoping
the mess of fish would balance my wrong
doing. L found, however that my sin
seemed to weigh many pounds in the eyes
of my parents. because L was given a
strapping and sent to bed supperless. And
the TEACHER. next day, added to my sorrow
by wearing out a switch on my back. Yet
/ went fishing again when the longing
seized me. and. like hundreds of other boys
L have not outgrown the habit or lost the
desire
There are many men in Indianapolis to-
day, some past the meridian of life, who en-
joy the sport of fishing as keenly as they
did in their hockey playing days. They
may not angle with worms, as they were
wont TO do in boyhood. but they love to
wander along the banks of a stream, or.
wade it, and fish. Some prefer to fish from
boats because more ground can be COW
cred, but the greatest sport is obtained
while wading-at least, this has been my
own experience in casting the fly for bass
in White river. Fall creek and many other
streams. near Indianapolis.
L would not belittle the sport of sitting
contentedly on a log. with creel swinging
from shoulder. waiting for a bite. Still
fishing is enjoyable to many persons but
ii is not scientific. You cannot sit on a
log and cast fly; you must worms or
minnows for bait, and no great skill is re-
quired to catch fish with either. OF course
there are waters like the lakes of northern
Indiana that cannot be whipped success
fully with a fly because they are too deep
and dark. In such it is advisable to use
minnows, spoons and various artificial lures
for bass, and worms for perch, red-eyes
and sunfish.
In the streams near Indianapolis-W
r.
Lick creeks-there is no need of using live
bait, for both black bass and red-eyes rise
eagerly to the fly. However, there is no
law against fishing with worms and in the
early spring the red-eye is ever ready to
sample anything that looks like food, even
when the water is high, as il is now.
Red-eyes, or goggle-eyes, as they are COM
monty called. like to swallow a bunch Of
worms. They are greedy eaters, and their
mouth Is large. Impale two or three worms
on small bass hook, drop the bait in water
three or four feet deep near a pile of sunk
en- logs, and you may hook a fish in few
seconds. 4 hungry red-eye does not toy
long with the bait. 1t bolts it and is back
among the logs quick as a flash, and If you
are not careful. is lost, for the fish has
provoking way of tying the line around
root or branch.