Year: 1867




Boy reader, are you food of fishing
Then, you are the boy for ne for when /
was Of your ago, forty or fifty years ago, /
was fond of it too The truth Is, / am fond
of 1T yet and l guess, though l am not u bit
OF a Yankee, that if you and | were out 20
gether with hook and line, / should catch as
big and as nice a string of fish as any Of
you.


Do you wish to learn from an old anglers
experience how to fish successfully? Then
you must learn TO know the right time for
fishing the bat suitable to the fish to be
caught and the mode of using tie bait to
advantage


By the time this article meets your eyes
the winter VIII have shown signs Of break
ing, and no doubt some of you have already
been thinking of your fishing tackle. But
don't 60 too soon; tbs no use fish will not
bite before their time. Wait until dogwood
blossoms have begun to laugh and show
their white teeth with Joy at the approach
Of warm weather; or what Is another sign
equally good, wait until you hear at night,
from the ponds and low grounds, the merry
concert Of frogs, singing, Fry bacon Tea
table I'm glad 1t coming! Amt you?
BlOod-an-ouns !"


This rule about the time Of the year for
fishing, will hold good whether you live in
Maryland or in Texas, in the mountains or
on the seaboard; because the fishing season
never begins until the weather is warm
enough for the frogs to sing, and the dog
woods to bloom. Remember | saw fishing
season, for there are waters which fish may
be caught at any time of the year when you
can obtain the proper bait


Ard now, supposing that the season has
set in, never think of going out to fish if
the 1oind blo1c8 hard Somehow fish don't
L. Ill
for they are certainly safe in their quiet
depths from any shipwreck; or violent dis
turbance from the wavelets and the surface;
but so 1t is; windy weather seems to pro
dUce such a degree of alarm or discomfort
of some sort, that they will not bite


If the a0iad as from the east, whether it
be much or little, you may as well let your
hooks and lines rest for, as general rule,
it holds good on the other side Of the Allan
tic as well on this side, that with such q
wind you will nave poor luck, if you have
any at all. An old time rhyming rule worth
your remembering, is in these words:


Wind from the east, fish bite least.


WRd from IF m the soat6 south ba ohS' S6e 9 mouth
By which last line, | suppose, is meant that
the fish will nibble and let 90 without taking
the bait far enough into their throats to ad-
nit of being hooked. The rhyme for " wind
from the north, has never met my eye or
my ear, though old Izaak Walton gives all
the others.


Loud laundering, or the heavy pattering
Of rain upon the water, will usually make
fresh water fish hasten to the shelter Of some
deep hole or dark recess. That the boys
upon the banks should seek shelter from
rain and thunder Is natural enough; but
why should fish? Are they afraid of get
ting wet? And yet oftentimes the boy on
shore will stand the rain longer than the
fish in the water.


As q general rule you cannot expect to
have much luck in fishing if the water is
very high from any cause whatever, whether
from the tides at sea, from rain, or from the
breaking of a dam in an upland stream.
Fish are timid creatures and all connections
disturb them. In freshets the water is so
muddy that their gills become clogged with
impurities, and (as they breathe through
their gills) they no doubt feel as uncOmfort-
able during a freshet as q boy would feel IN
q sand storm, or in dense smoke when he
could not draw free breath And on the
seaboard, the high tides twice every month";
at the new and full of the moon, known as
Spring tides, enable the fish to penetrate so
far into the marshes, and to gorge them
selves so abundantly upon the rarities to be
obtained only at those times, that they have
no appetite for bait at low water.


And now having described so fully the
times unfavorable for fishing, it is but fair
that some description be given Of the right
time.


If you can hit upon day when the
weather is comfortably warm, or comforta-
bly, cool, according to the season, and when
q light wind from the west brings a success
sion of small clouds to VEIL every once In a
while, the bright face of the sun, or to draw
thin veil of cloud over the whole sky, par
ticularly if you can obtain such day soon
after rain which has slightly raised and
slightly muddied the waters in which you
are to fish, you may expect good sport; and
/ if the water be good for fishing, and your
/ bait and tackle, and skill correspond, you
ought to bring home a nice basket Of fish.


The kind of day best suited to the sport
has been so prettily described in rhyme (by
| Dame Heubert, some say, though Sir Hum
phrey Davy, in his SalmOnia, says it is by
! Cotton), that it is worth recording and re
membering:


" 4 day with not bright beam,
/ 4 but not scOrchng sun,
a gentle breeze TO curl the stream
/ Aud. masters half our work is doRe."


But, after all that may be said, the only
true test Of the time to fish, is the actual ex
pertinent. For every fisherman knows tina
he may 20 out one day and 10 well; and h
may 60 the next day, to the same place, an'