Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-08-14

My Dear Buck:
Well old man you're ready to pack
the duff1e bag and hit the steel for the
Great North Woods and you want
little straight from the shoulder stuff
on the question of guides. Taken as
whole the men of the North Woods
are fine bunch of good fellows and
they sure put up with a lot of hard
ships in the first line of trenches dodg-
ing anglers gas shells on the subject
of fishing. Most guides who handle
the city chap on his first big time in
the woods have more real fishing lore
and knowledge tied up in their hat
racks than they are given credit for.
And heap of this downright good
fishing dope never reaches the surface
because sometimes, Mr.. G. G. don't mix
in right, he sort of rubs the fur the
wrong way. Get on a man to man
basis right at the start and have your
listening ear in good shape. Your
fishing will be more successful and
you'll have an all round better time.
Your guide probably has spent the
greater part of his life on the waters
you will fish and he sure ought to be
given credit for knowing something
about fishing conditions on those wa
tiers. If you give him the glad hand
old timer and treat him white toteing
your share and mixing in" right he'll
open up and give you line of fishing
that will be remembered for many q
day. And just let few of his tackle
tips and fish facts soak in, they are
nearly always good and you can use
'em any time.
Tips From a Real Guide.
While on recent trip with Earny
Wendt, the greatest little guide that
ever brought musky to gait, passed
the buck to him in this fashion. Ear
n.y." / said, what is the worst boner
pulled by the city fisherman in the
high art of tossing the bait to the Gag
er fishes" Between turning the fish
that was browning in the pan and NOV
ing the coffee pot to a place of safety
when it threatened to boil over, Earny
slipped this over the home plate. "Well
Hombre, there are a number of things
that a fellow will do that makes it
hard to fill the stringer, first nearly
everyone tries to cast too far, they
have an idea that unless they make
about rs feet of line fly off the reel
on a cast that said cast is a failure,
while as a matter of fact, as you well
know, cast of from rs to 80 feet will
get more fish than the longer casts,
unless the water is very clear and then
throw it out not above 90 feet"
"And another thing" said Earny, as
he wiped the smoke out of his eyes.
Some of the spoons and spinners they
bring up into this country are some
size. They sure use them too large.
have always found a small spoon, say
" No. 2 or 8, about right for most fish,
ing. OF course you can use them up
to No. 6 or s on a rough day, when the
water is moving bit, but the great
big chunk of tin they try out on the
musky sure must look funny to the old
boys when it goes
Striking at the right time is an
other point" he said as we started
work on the piping hot grub, fit for a
king, at. least it tasted so after days
steady work at casting. with the
plugs they don't strike soon enough
and with the natural bait they strike
too soon. Unless a fish hooks itself by
accident when he hits the artificial
plug, the majority of fishermen are
not ready to strike at the right time.
You got to strike 'em the minute they
hit the plug or they throw it out. 1
think where the fall down comes is in
not practicing the transfer of the rod
from the right to the left hand. Just
before the plug hits the water, the reel
should be stopped and while the rod
is being swung from the right to the
left, begin the retrieve of the plug by
a backward move of the rod. This
takes up the slack at the start, gives
your lure the right position and still
you have enough space to swing the
rod farther back to strike your fish
quickly if you get strike. While with
the live minnows they never give the
fish chance to swallow the bait. The
bass, pike, pickerel or wall-eye gen.
orally takes but small hold on the
live bait and striking at that time be-
fore he gets chance to take it away
for a short run, just pulls the bait out
of his mouth. say let 'em swallow it.
They ought to at least have that pleas
ure anyway, then give a quick, sharp
strike with wrist movement but
quite few of the boys seem to think
they got to pump the fish clean out of
the water. AT least that's the way 1t
looks to me when I see them give
long, swinging sweep of the arm to
the strike"
So you see old timer if you want an
earful of real fishing facts, lay your
cards on the table with your pal, the
guide, and play the game of the out
doors clean. It'll pay mighty well and
start a friendship that will last for
years. DIXIE.
Costly Outfit.