Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-06-01


ethics declare the bass and salmon
fishing season open on June Is. You
are at liberty to capture with hook
and line those scaled beauties in
number and size to the legal limit.
Dame Nature has enveloped herself
in toga of verdant green and is
smilingly beckoning you into the Sc
clusion of her enchanted realm. The
cool, inviting woods where trees are
in full foliage and the velvet carpet
of grass is relief from city walks
of cement. Flowers are waving a
welcome to visiting guests.
Why not answer the Red Gods
call? Why not cast a Coachman into
the likely spots, along the swift
rushing brook or troll the lakes for
the hard-fighting muskie? A dry fly
might be floated into the danger
zone. where speckled beauty had
been awaiting the dessert course. A
gaudily-painted lure or plug be
trolled where a lurking bass would
furiously assail, either impelled by
hunger or belligerent instincts.
AS a still fisherman, with live bait
and an assortment of poles with
floats adjusted to different depths of
water. you might be especially sue
cessful. Last. but not least, it might
be the fisherman in whom take an
especial interest-he who always ap-
peals to me because he carries me
back into my boyhood days when I
also played just a little hockey that
might be one of the first to locate
the likely logs and treetops which
extended from the bank out into the
water.
When the Red Gods Call
When the Red Gods call, that in
ternal fishing itching. scratched
only by answering the call, is not
a respector of person. That impelling
mental desire to go afield is conta-
gious. No person with real. genuine
red blood in his veins is immune
from the influence. The list includes
the highbrow or kid-gloved fisher
man who derives pleasure only from
casting and manipulating with float
ing tactics his dry-fiy propaganda;
the knock-about or get-the-meat
fisherman, with his painted lure or
plugs. delighting in his long casts
and rapid reeling. (Oh. you gang
hook fishermen. why were you placed
upon this earth as a thorn in the
side of the fly caster?)
And there is the roughneck or
nd-for-his-trunk fisherman, with
his legal limit and varied assort-
ment of cane poles. cotton lines dec
Grated with a gaudily-painted float,
using live minnows for bait and set
ting his poles along the bank await
ing the time when he will expedi-
tiously land his fish out on the bank
or up in a tree. BY his side is a
basket freighted with cool ones,
which serve to make long waits be-
tween bites pass more rapidly. He
is the fisherman who is out every
day, upon whom the neighbors de-
pend for the Friday fish dinner.
The Barefoot Boy
And must not overlook my
friend, the barefooted boy, who cuts.
peels, dries and straightens his poles,
cut from the pussywillow. A 5-cent
cotton line and a limerick hook.
few bullets are pounded on for sink
ers, jug cork is split, fastened on
the line and answers for a float. He
has located a damp spot on the north
side of the barn, where he digs and
places them in an old can half filled
with dirt enough worms to supply
the village. Those nice, fat, pink.
juicy, energetic angleworms. AS he
turns the last spadeful of dirt and
tosses the last worm into the can, he
fushes with that grand and glorious
feeling of contentment and satisfac-
tion. He feels an affection for those
squirming beauties. which need only
to be anointed with a copious allow
ance of saliva to make them irresist-
ible bait for the speckled sunfish.
All are different types of Ikey
walton's disciples. with little respect
for each others methods of fishing,
yet they are all stung with the same
fishing microbe and are awaiting the
opening day of the season, for which
date they have been preparing for
weeks. All are freighted to the
guards with anticipation, each feel
ing especial confidence in his ability
and methods of fishing.
Fish Are Moody
Fish are always moody and cap
tious. Will they on the opening day
rise to the fly, rush the plug, display
their cannibalistic proclivities on live
bait or will they be attracted by the
succulent worm offered by the small
boy. nosing his bait for an instant
to gently grab and quietly swim
away. pulling the float under water.
to- be finally called to ar account
ing by We lad setting his hook in
either bass, turtle or sunfish? The
fight Is on then. usually of brief
duration, as the playing Is usually
done by the fish after he has been
landed in the treetop or sand.
II your ears have been attuned to
the call OF the Red Gods, don't hesi-