Part 20
Once, on the bank of a mill-pond in the upper part of Alder Brook, in Ulster County, N. Y., I saw a trout in shoal water, the largest I ever caught in that vicinity. To reach him without alarm, I cast seventy-two feet, _measured_ afterward from a knot on my line near my reel, and got my fish.
He weighed two and a quarter pounds, and I had to play him some to save him.
And now, with a word to young fishermen and old _beginners_, I will close.
Learn first to cast a line and take a trout with bait before you try a fly. You will thereby gain confidence, learn to hook your fish at the instant he strikes, and gain the supple use of arm and wrist which makes the fly-fisherman skillful.
My dear wife, by whose sick bed I pen these words, for one long joyous summer in camp, fished by my side, using bait while she saw me casting no lure but flies.
The next time we went on the stream she had a six-ounce fly-rod, and fifty beautiful trout in two hours to her basket proved how apt a pupil she had been.
With many words of cheer to all who love the glorious pastime, I remain, as of yore—Uncle Ned—_a born fisherman_.
“Eagle’s Nest,” Delaware Co., N. Y.
“There are two peculiarities of all sorts of fish, which are frequently unnoticed; that they are largely attracted to their food by scent, and that they feed at night.”—_Seth Green_.
“The first and last object of the fly-fisher is to show as much of the fly to the fish as possible, and as little of anything else.”—_Francis Francis_.
“The notion of the main mass of anglers would appear to be, that if an unusually cunning fish takes up an impregnable-looking position he is to be religiously left unassailed. ‘Breakers ahead!’ seem to be scented by the over-cautious pliers of the rod, when the chances of conquest are really ‘as even’ as in less dangerous localities; and even supposing this were not so, the greater the difficulties the more exciting the sport, and the keener the pleasure.”—_David Foster._
(Illustration Missing)
26. Manchester.
27. Blue Jay.
28. Imperial.
29. McLeod.
30. Black and Gold.
31. White and Jungle Cock.
“Many men of fame, even equal to Dr. Johnson’s, have been eminent as anglers, and have redeemed and disculpated angling from his surly and foolish sneer.”—_John Lyle King._
“I invariably endeavor, when dressing a fly, to imitate the living insect; still I have seen nondescript flies beat all the palmer hackles and the most life-like flies that ever graced a casting-line.”—“_Frank Forester_.”
“If we are content with an ungainly fly, we will be satisfied with inferiority of rod and tackle; and although the fish may not see the difference, the angler may become, from neglecting one point, slovenly in all. A well-made fly is a beautiful object, an ill-made one an eye-sore and annoyance; and it is a great satisfaction both to exhibit and examine a well-filled book of handsomely tied flies.”—_R. B. Roosevelt_.
“What is life, after all, but just going a-fishing all the time, casting flies on many rivers and lakes, and going quietly home as the day is ending?”—_W. C. Prime._
“This fishing story is at an end; not for want of material, for there are other scenes and other times of equal pleasure that crowd my memory as I write these lines. And so it will ever be to you, my friend, should you, even in your later years, take up the angler’s art: it grows with its growth, and strengthens with its strength, and, if uncurbed, may perchance, with many of us, become a passion.
“But, for all that, it will fill the storehouse of our memories with many a scene of unalloyed pleasure, which in the sunset of life we may look back upon with fondest satisfaction.
“If in the minds of any one of you who as yet are ignorant of the charm of fishing, as it has here been revealed. I have induced the desire for a test, ‘Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once,’ provided it be the season, and, the word of an old fisherman for it, you will thank me for these random pages.”—_Charles W. Stevens._