Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1921-10-26
IN PRAISE OF FISHING
Big Pleasure in Ii Even When
the Fish Don't Bite.

Fishing is not always so much
a task of procuring the necessary
quantity of brain food to supply
the daily board as it is just am ex-
cuse to get out in the open-a
sort of an alibi to get in close
touch with nature, and one feels,
when using it as such, like an
overzealous grandparent who at
tends a circus-"not that he gives
rap about the performance, for
when a teller has seen one of 'em
he has seen 'em all, but merely
to take the children to see the
clowns"
In the case of using fishing as
an alibi for a days outing, the
catch is a secondary considera-
ton. OF course, a nice string of
the shimmering little beauties
adds considerable to the day and
is always worth trying for, but
the primary idea is generally to
just get out under a clear sky
and into the singing brook and
TO harmonic with any old tune
or Tilt one wishes to hum or
whistle, TO fish or loaf and hold
communion with the outdoors in
general.
In the city, where one is over
burdened with companionship,
things are different; in fact, they
are so different they wear on
ones nerves and make the day
in the open more of a novelty.
To talk to ones self in the city
would be a crime, an injustice to
ones companions, but along the
vociferous brook it is different.
Here one may get conversant with
the willy little nibbler that takes
bit of coazing with the fly, and
bit of coaxing conversation does
not come amiss.
Then maybe it is a bobbing wa
ter ousel that attracts ones at
tention, and thoughts are express
sed aloud to be drowned by the
noisy brook and the great out
doors; or it may be a sly, gliding
mink that worms his way along
the drift and entanglements OF
the bank, climbing over or under
the instructions or plunging IN
to the little torrent and swim
ming. sometimes submerged and
sometimes with his weasel-llke
head in the air, as he also fishes
the stream. Or, if the soliloquiz-
er is lucky, a spindle-legged doe
or antlered stag may bound away
from the cool, moss-covered banks
of the stream upon the approach
of the fisherman, drawing forth
comment and conversation from
the angler.
With the roaring stream gen
orally filling the air with brass
hand sort of racket, it is not hard
70 approach the woods animals
along the bank and if one mer-
civ sits upon a convenient bouid-
or and camouflages himself we'll
with the surroundings, there is
no limit to the study he may
make of nature about him as he
I.o,las his hook and line in the
deeper pools of the stream.
observations may cover the
woods animals from the lordly
stag TO the lowly lizard as the
creatures of the wilds go about
their daily affairs sort of mat
ter of fact fashion, always keep
ing the first law of nature self
preservation, in mind.
And so one fishes on, perhaps
diligently, and perhaps idly as
the fishing becomes secondary to
the study of nature about the
brook. but when the little fellows
are biting briskly, things are DIT
ferent Then a rollicking song
creeps into the mind and uncon,
sciously the tune is hummed
throughout the day, to the chang.
inc ripplings and gurglings OF
the stream.
Strangely enough, the ever
changing brook accompaniment
fits the Tilt perfectly-so perfect
Nv in fact, one is unable to drive
ne tune from him and goes
throughout the day, just sort OF
inning himself up with the little
.hat IL broken only when