The San Francisco call., 1910-11-20
Finding the Lure
With the Proper Bait You Are Likely Fill the Cree

And what about the trout after which one
doughty angler goes with fly book replete
with all the latest hues and colors in fydom,
past, present and future and yet tucked
away within his blouse box of tin, crammed
with angle worms-for an emergency! And
then when our doughty angler returns with
full creel, flies hardly showing sign of
disturbance, yet the tin quite empty
and worm free, with what naughty air
does he reply, "All, with fly, siri Flies
only" But then license extends to fisher
men not only as to the size and weight,
two hours after it was taken from the water,
but to other things as we'll. 1t takes
very strong character. indeed, when the
trout act as if the flies were poison to them,
not to resort to the wriggling supply in that
tin box in your blouse, especially when you
see the farmers boy, who for convenience
sake carries the worms in his mouth, snak-
ing out the spotted fellows one after the
other. until his willow withe is nearly filed.
The muscallongei Wary, predaceous,
watchful, greedy wolf of river and lake. Well.
he's not particular if you can strike him
Alright. Club, small bass, gigantic frog,
spoon, spinning like mad that in turn mad
dens the fish, until he strikes in sheer anger
and fury A wise fish is the muscallonge
and quick to learn. The monsters of go
and 20 pounds remain far below and find
ample food amongst the bass, wall eyed
pike and other living things. But when,
in the spring, nature sends them into shall
low water to spawn, the old veterans sue
cumb to the spear In the depths of winter
when the man with the gaily painted wooden
FISH like lure, from his darkened fish house,
looks through the opening into the cold
water below, the willy muscallonge, wall eyed
and with slowly moving jaws and with mo-
tionleSs fms, advances inch by inch. nearer
and nearer to the lure, as with dett manipu-
lation it is made to circle with one hand
whilst in the other IS the poised, uplitted
spear.
There must be no mistake in the down
ward stroke of that spear and nothing short
of a well directed blow across the spine
below the head will hold that green, snake
like monster
Down goes the five tined spear true to
the spot. a spasmodic rush and momentary
struggle and the thousand toothed hunter
of the crystal depths lies motionless upon
the ice
And how about the lordly salmon fresh
in from the sea with new environment and
new food around him2 He's forever trying
things and splitting them out if he does not
like them. What makes him strike at a fly
nobody knows. It's bright and gaudy and
full of life as it sl1itters over the surface
of the pool. and whether the salmon says
to itself, at looks good to me, I'll try it, .
or whether it's case of confound that thing,
it has trailed across this pool until I'm
tired, and in sheer vindictiveness rises and
is hooked, who knows the truth of it?
And when one thinks it over it is quite
easy to ask yourself what the fish thinks
about it all when he finds himself fast to
something that won't let go; that keeps him
from going where he pleases and. in fact,
makes him go where he doesn't please until
he's dead tired. What, l say, does he think
of it all?