^■:.:^ .''^m {?*vfit.7. '«...' ■F'?-i,- ■ ^ ■ ^^^A^'^, %^^ pj^-V^: Hi .*^"v*^ i:«i »r-:^^ r^i:;m A SrMinilR IDYL *9 Tke Patient Answer. BY GlfV n. A^-ERY. For the Democrat and Chronicle. Tho true angler must lay in great store of ratieiK-eand you will often see htm sitting for! fciouro without so mucii as a bite, wherebi' he loses nothing but his time, for which the honest angler ! careth not a fig. ' ' Isaac Walton, Jr. An angler sat by an old saw mill And angled away in the flowing rill, ' Dreaming of fish that traditions say, ! Deep in those waters nest and lay ; Pickerel, perch, eel and bull pout, And Legend whispered, a speckled trout, | This last named fish must be taken on spec, | No man ever saw his head or neck. One man had seen the end of his tail Going down stream like an express mall, This tail may be true but thin is Ending up with a dubious Fin-is; but to our tale ; as we said before, The patient Angler sat by the shore. The tools of his trade around him lay Hackles, red, speckled dun and gray, \ Flies artificial of every hue, i Millers and moths and grasshoppers too. And rare old Walt- n's angler complete. The fisherman's Bible lay at his feet; As thus he sat and angled away, I genily spoke to this fisherman gray, — " Halloo! my friend, how goes the fight ' ' With the finny trit)es; had'st 'ere a bite? ' ' Not yet "he sighed and whispere'S^w,, j "I've only been here a day or so. " ! Time rolled on and I passed that way, I There sat tlie angler old and gray, I Tilt horni t had built a nest in his hat. His eai's were the home of the sporting gnat, And yellow jackets were coming 1 1 rest Within the folds of his peaceful vest ; A family (select) of mus-quit-t jOS Had taken the a tic over his nose, Earwi.i s. horseflies and beetles brown Were S} orting around his snowy crown. But thtre he tat by the old saw mill Happy, contented and patient still : Ap thuh he sat and angled away, 1 gently spoke to this fisherman gray. * ' Helloo ! my friend, how goes the fight * ' Wuh the finny tribes; hads't 'ere a bite? " N' t yet, ' ' he sighed and whispered low, "I've only been here a weeli or so. ' ' TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 34, I88O: BY THE STREAM ^ The Sunday Magazine. Sweet tangled banks, where ox-eyed daises grow And scarlet poppies gleam ; IBwe«t changing lights, that ever come and go Upon the quiet stream ! Once more I see the flash of splendid wings, As dragon flies flit by ; Once more tor mo the small sedge-warbler sings Beneath a sapphire sky. OB«e more I feel the simple, fresh content I found in stream and soil When ffolden summers slowly came and went . And mine was all their spoil. 1 fl^nd amid the honeysuckle flowers And shy forget-me-not. Old boyish memories of lonely hours Fassed in this silent spot. Oh, God of nature, how thy kindness keeps Some changeles<< things on ertrth! And he wh) roams far off, and toils and weeps, Comes homa to learn their worth. »»,j visions vanish, worldly schemes may fail, Hope proves aa idJjs dream. But still the blossoms flourish, red and pale, Beside my native stream. oner Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/americananglersbOOnorrrich AMERICAN ANGLER^S BOOK. V \, THE ^''^^ ^^^ AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK: EMBBACINQ %\i llaturd iJstorg of Sporting Jfis|, THE ART OF TAKING THEM. WITH INSTRUCTIONS IN FLY-FISHING, FLY-MAKING, AND ROD-M AKING; AKD DIRECTIONS FOR FISH-BREEDING. TO WHICH IS APPEtrDEli, DIES PISCATOEIiE: DESCRIBING NOTED FISHING-PLACES, AND THE PLEASURE OF SOLITARY FLY-FISHING. JlluatrattlJ to it!) 9Eigi)i2 Bnflrabinjjs on g®oollf. By THAD. no KRIS, PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY E. H. BUTLER & CO., LONDON: PA:MPS0N LOW, SON & CO. 1864. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by E. H. BUTLER & 00. in the Clerk's Office of the DiBtrict Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. MEABS & DUSENBERT, ASHMfiAD, 8TEBE0TYPEB8 & ELECTROTTPERS. KUNTER. N(oJ THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE DEDICATED il\t iittle Onuft HOUSELESS ANGLERS;" ALL THAT ARE LOVERS OF VIRTUE, AND DARE TRUST IN PROVIDENCE, AND BE QUIET, AND GO A-ANGLINO." M839007 TO THE READER In offering this book for the perusal of those who may feel suffi- ciently interested in the subject to read works on Angling, I deem it an act of courtesy to say a few words in explanation of the motives which prompted me to commence, and then drew me on in the prose- cution of a work involving, as it has proved, no small amount of time and labor. Every true lover of angling knows that the pleasure it brings with it, does not end with the day's sport; that besides being "a calmer of unquiet thoughts,^' for the time, it impresses happy memories on the mind ; and he looks back to many a day, and many a scene, as an oasis by the wayside in the rough journey of life ; and like Dog- berry's friend Verges, " he will be talking'' when he finds an interest- ed hearer, and may be tempted, as the author of these pages has been, to write of it. Notwithstanding the many books on angling by British authors, but few American works on the subject have yet been offered to the (7) Viii TO THE READER. reading public; and this in the face of the fact that we are an angling people, and that our thousands of brooks, creeks, rivers, lakes, bays, and inlets abound in game-fish. The best informed of those who have written on American fishes, have omitted many important species, and treated slightingly of others which are worthy of a more extended notice. Since the pub- lication of Dr. Bethune's " Walton," and subsequently Frank For- ester's " Fish and Fishing," sporting-fish have decreased in some parts of the country where they were once abundant. In the mean while, the opening of new lines of travel has brought within reach of the angler many teeming waters that were then almost inaccessible. With a view of filling up the blank left by my predecessors, of correcting some erroneous ideas that have been imparted, not only concerning fish, but the adaptation of English rules and theories, without qualification, to our waters; and with the object of making the angler self-reliant, and to encourage him as much as possible to make the best of such resources as may be within his reach, espe- cially as regards his tackle, I have devoted many spare hours to the following pages ; in writing which, to use the words of Isaac Walton, '^ I have made a recreation of a recreation ;" and as reminiscences of my boyhood or maturer years have come back to me, and the mood was on me, I have at times indulged my sense of the ludicrous or the ridiculous ; and, again adopting the words of Walton in his address to his readers, '^ I have in several places mixed not any scurrility, but some innocent harmless mirth, of which, if thou be a severe sour- complexioned man, then I here disallow thee to be a competent judge, for divines say there are ofi"ences given and ofi'ences not given, but offences taken." But I am sanguine enough to hope that my simple narrations or allusions to such incidents will touch a chord of sym- pathy in the breasts of good-natured readers " who love to be quiet and go a-angling." I had collected most of the matter contained in this book — much of it as the reader finds it, but a greater portion in rough notes — when the present unhappy rebellion broke out. I then thought it doubtful whether the following pages would ever be printed, but TO THE READER IX some of my angling friends, one or two of whom had read parts of my manuscript, urged me to publish, and overcame my scruples as to my short-comings as a writer, for I profess to be only an angler. One of these, who regards the author and his project perhaps in too favorable a light, addressed me a letter on the subject. I conceive it to be so strong an argument in favor of angling, and so much more to the point than I could express it myself, that I insert it here. My Dear Friend : Several times you have told me that you entertained the idea of writing a treatise on angling. Let me beg of you not to suffer this "■ good intention" to be turned into a paving-stone for that locality into which all unfulfilled good intentions are dumped for cobble. I feel great confidence that if you can impart to beginners but a share of the practical knowledge and insight of the gentle craft which you have obtained by years of patient, observant, and appreciative practice, or can imbue them with a part of that genuine love for the sport which has grown into and with you, then you will be doing the youth of our country a real service. Perhaps few people claiming to be civilized have greater need than we Americans to be taught the necessity of innocent out-door recreations, for the healthy development of mind, body, and spirit. To the struggle for wealth, and place, and fame, we devote such unremitting ardor, that we are too apt to overlook the simple and innocent joys which a kind Father has so bountifully placed within our easy reach ; by neglecting which, we miss the natural means for renewing the spring of life, and keeping fresh and green in our memories the happy days of boyhood. I have ever felt grateful that as a boy I imbibed a love for angling, for in my maturer years it continues to afford me a keener enjoyment than any other recreation. Nothing has survived to me of ray boyish days which has the peculiar abandon and charm of boyish joy like this. At each returning season, when the warm breath of spring flushes the jnaples with the ruddy glow of budding leaves, what can equal the angler's de- light, as, rigged out in sober woollen suit and hob-nailed wading shoes, with creel o'er his shoulder and pliant rod in his grasp, he is permitted to revisit the bright familiar stream (scene of his former triumphs), to listen to the music of its flow, and to try once more if his right hand has lost its cunning, or his flies their attraction. Though I have always loved angling, I think if I had known you earlier I should have loved it even better. I realize how much I have learned TO THE READER from you in the few years we have fished together, and I look back with a kind of regret that I did not have the benefit of your kindly teaching ear- lier. Many a one who has the true love of angling in him, comes so far short of the enjoyment he could have, for want of willing and faithful teaching at the commencement, from those whose experience and skill are above his own. Some anglers do not think enough of their duties to their juniors in this respect. I reckon among the chiefest of your qualities as an angler, the sincere sympathy you have always manifested towards any novice who showed that he had a love for the art, and your willingness to teach to such what you knew. Why not manifest this on a more ex- panded field, and speak through a book to all who are seeking knowledge upon angling, and are disposed to avail themselves of your experience ? There is one department of the school for anglers in which I think you are qualified to speak ex cathedra. I mean the mechanical ; if you will undertake to teach what you know upon this branch, you can enable an angler, who has any aptitude for mechanism and a reasonable facility of manipulation, to manufacture for himself, his own rod, flies, and tackle, of a quality for service and efiectiveness, which will not suJffer in comparison with those to be procured in any good tackle-store in the country. No one has a better right than I to bear this testimony to your handicraft, for my favorite fly-rod and book of flies are the product of your skill. We have a good many fishermen in this country, and too few anglers ; we are apt to value more a glut than a quiet day's sport, where skill and painstaking will reward us with a moderate sufficiency. Catching fish is not necessarily angling, any more than daubing canvas with paint is paint- ing. If you write, you could not help giving aid to the attainment of a truer and juster perception of the delights and uses of angling ; and aid your reader, if he has a sympathetic soul, in the attainment of that " sweet content" which can be drawn from all the accessories of the art, and the beauties of nature amid which it is practised. I say, therefore, write. The labor .will not only pleasantly recall many scenes of your piscatorial experience, and memories of the choice spirits with whom you have taken your diversion, but will make you to be re- membered with gratitude by those to whom your labor of love will bring an innocent pleasure. Truly your friend and fellow-angler, J. Most of the engravings of fish in this book are from nature. The m.irine species, found in the chapter on salt-water fishing, are reduced TO THE READER, XI copies of those found in Dr. Holbrook's work. The vignettes are the production of the pencil of a good brother of the angle, an amateur, drawn mostly for his own amusement and occasionally for mine, as the subjects have been presented to his appreciative eye during the last ten or twelve years. Many of them are his earlier sketches. He has expressed an unwillingness that I should reproduce them, after finding that I was in earnest in doing so in this work ; but I have, in most cases, so intimately associated them with the subjects or topics to which they serve as vignettes, that I cannot oblige him by relin- quishing my purpose. Most of the tackle and diagrams, and a few of the fish, were drawn by the writer; I confess with some labor, for they are purely mechanical productions. All of the drawings on wood, with the exception of the plate of hooks and Salmon-flies by Mr. Wilhelm, are by D. Gordon Yates, of this city, and were cut by himself or under his supervision. I have received so many useful hints from Dr. Bethune's notes to his edition of Walton, and from English works on angling during the last fifteen or twenty years, that I am at a loss to whom to accredit any particular item of information ; having so entirely appropriated such knowledge, and stored and mingled it with whatever necessity and some aptness of my own has taught me, as to consider all alike my own property. Tackle-making I have learned as a pleasant recreation. My tactics and rules are based on- my own experience and upon that of brethren of the rod with whom I have angled. So also is my knowledge of fishing-grounds. Anglers are all more or less conceited, or, to say the least, self- opinioned, and I may at times have given directions or laid down rules contrary to the views or practice of the reader, or may not have expressed myself as plainly as I endeavored to do ; but " What is writ is writ ; Would it were worthier." And I only ask the same indulgence of opinion I am willing to extend to those who hold opposite notions. xil TOTHEREADER. To the living, with whom I have enjoyed long days of unalloyed pleasure in boyhood, by the dear old mill-pond, and in manhood by the mountain stream, on the sylvan lake, or within sound of " the warning off the lee shore, speaking in breakers,^' I send these pages as a reminder of the past. In reference to those who are no more on earth, I quote as applicable those simply beautiful lines of Walton, and say that my allusion to some of the incidents herein contained, "is, or rather was, a picture of my own disposition, especially in such days as I have laid asido business, and gone a-fishing with honest Nat and R. Roe ; but they are gone, and with them most of my pleasant hours, even as a shadow that passeth away and returneth not." CONTENTS Address to the Header Page 5 CHAPTER I. ANGLING. Its harmonizing influences. — Recollections of Angling in boyhood, its after influence on manhood. — Its social tendency. — What and Who is an Angler ? — Different kinds of Anglers. — The Snob Angler. — The Greedy Angler. — The Spick-and-Span Angler. — The Rough- and-Ready Angler. — The Literary Angler. — The Shad-roe Fisher- man.— The English Admiral, an Angler, — The True Angler . 27 CHAPTER II. GENERAL REMARKS ON PISH. Definition. — Origin and order in creation. — Natural mode of propaga- tion.— Habits as regards maternity. — Migration. — Vitality. — Ex- ternal organs. — Internal organization. — Ichthyology . . .39 CHAPTER III. TACKLE IN GENERAL. Hooks. — Sinkers. — Swivels. — Gut. — Leaders. — Snoods. — Lines. — Reels. — Rods. — Bow Dipsys 63 (13) xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. THE PERCH FAMILY — PERCID^. General Remarks on the Percidse. — Great number of American genera and species. — Paucity of European species. — Distinguish- ing marks. — Their abundance and variety in the Valley of the Mississippi. — Migratory habits. — The Rockfish or Striped Bass, Labrax lineatus. Rockfish Tackle. Rock-fishing on the lower Rappahannock. — The White Perch, Lahrax pallidus. Perch-fish- ing.— The White Bass of the Lakes, Labrax albidus. White Bass taken with the artificial fly. — Fresh water Bass of the South and West, Grystes salmoides. Bass-fishing. Bass Fly-fishing. — Black Bass of the Lakes, Grystes nigricans. Trolling for Black Bass with spoon, and with artificial flies. — The Striped Bass of the Ohio, Perca chrysops. — The Short Striped Bass. — Oswego Bass. — The Crappie or Sac-a-lai, Pomoxis hexicanthus. — The Yellow Barred Perch, Perca fiavescens. — The Sunfish or Sunny, Pomotis vulgaris. — Bream, Ichthylis rubricunda. Bream-fishing on Bayou La Branch. — The Pike Perch or Ohio Salmon, Lucioperea Americana. — The Buffalo Perch, Ablodon grunniens 77 CHAPTER V. THE PIKE FAMILY — ESOOIDiB. Remarks on the Pike Family. — Mascalonge pictured by Cuvier. — European species. — American species. — The Garfish ; manner of taking it. — Dr. Bethune's remarks on Pikes. — Their introduction into England. — Pliny's Pike. — Gesner's Pike. — The Great Lake Pickerel, Esox lucioides. Trolling from a boat for Pickerel. — The Mascalonge, Esox esior. Angling for Mascalonge. — The Pond Pike, Esox reticulatus. Pike-fishing. Trolling for Pike with the gorge-hook. Pike-fishing in Eastern Virginia. — The Great Blue Pike.— The Little Pike of Long Island.— The Streaked Pike of the Ohio. Story told about a Pike taken in the Kanawha . . . 127 CHAPTER VI. THE CARP FAMILY — CYPRINID^. Remarks on the Cyprinidae. — The Sucker, Catostomus communis. — Buffalo Fish, Catostomus babulus. Buffalo Fish as an article of CONTENTS. XV diet. — The Chub or Fallfish, Leucosomus nothus. Errors of Ameri- can writers in regard to the size of the Chub. Chub an annoyance to fly-fishers. Chub-fishing on the Brandy wine. Umbrella invented by a Chub Fisherman. — Roach, and Roach-fishing . . . 153 CHAPTER VII. THE HERRING FAMILY — CLUPEID^. Remarks on the Herring Family, from the " Iconographic Encyclo- paedia." Their abundance in the waters of the United States. Great numbers of them taken in the Potomac. Herring-fishing with the artificial fly. — The Shad, Alosa prcestatilis. Its delicacy . and value as food. Migratory habits. Shad taken with the min- now. Shad-roe as bait 165 CHAPTER VIII. CATFISH AND EELS. Cattish, Siluridce. Extract from Iconographic Encyclopaedia. Cat- fish of the Atlantic States and Western waters. — Eels. Observations on the Petromyzontidce (Lamprey Eels), on the Murcenidoe (Common Eels), and on the Gymnotidoe (Electric Eels). — The Common Eel, Anguilla vulgaris. Fishing for Eels. Migratory habits. Young Eels as bait. Eels not hermaphrodites 177 CHAPTER IX. THE SALMON FAMILY. — SALMONID^. Remarks on the Salmonidae. — The Brook Trout. Scientific descrip- tion. Habits and manner of breeding. Growth. Difi'erence in size between Trout of still waters and those of brisk streams. Effect of light and shade, and bright or dark water, on the color of Trout. Errors as regards new species. Food of the Trout. Its greediness. Its geographical range. Former abundance and causes of decrease. Size of Trout in the regions of Lake Superior and State of Maine. Size in the preserved waters of England, and size the angler is restricted to in rented waters. — The Salmon. Former abundance in the rivers of New York and the Eastern States. Great numbers in California, Oregon, and British Possessions. Xvi CONTENTS. Decline of the Salmon- fisheries in British Provinces. Scientific description. Natural process of propagation. Their growth. Parr, Smolt, and Grilse. Mature Salmon. Size of Salmon. Instinct. Restocking depleted rivers, and introducing Salmon into new waters. Their migration from sea to fresh rivers, and gradual preparation for their change of habitat. Salmon-leaps. Food of Salmon at sea. — The Canadian Trout, or Sea Trout, Salmo Canadensis. Error in referring it to the species Salmo trutta of Europe ; their dissimilar- ity. Its affinity to Salmo fontinalis (Brook Trout). Sea-Trout fishing in the Tabbisintac. Mr. Perley's and Dr. Adamson's account of Sea-Trout fishing. Their abundance in the rivers falling into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and annoyance to Salmon-fishers. — The Schoodic Trout, or Dwarf Salmon of the St. Croix, Salmo Gloveri. Account of three summers' fishing in the Schoodic Lakes. — The Great Lake Trout, Salmo namaycush. Manner of taking them. — The Lesser Lake Trout, Salmo Adirondakus. Trolling for Lake Trout. — Back's Grayling, Thymallus signifer. Dr. Richardson's remarks on the Grayling. — The Sn^elt, Osmerus viridiscens. Their great numbers along the northern part of our coast. Smelt in the Schuylkill. Quantity sent south from Boston. Smelt used as a fertilizer. — The Capelin, Mallotus villosus. — The Whitefish, Co- regonus albus. — Trout Bait-fishing 191 CHAPTER X. SALT-WATER FISH AND FISHING. Introductory Remarks. — The Sheepshead. — The Weakfish, or Salt- Water Trout.— The Barb, or Kingfish.— The Spot, Pigfish, or Goody.— The Croaker.— The Redfish of the Gulf of Mexico.— The Bluefish, or Snapping Mackerel. — The Spanish Mackerel. — The Pompano (Southern). — The Drumfish. — The Flounder. — The Sea- Bass.— The Blackfish.— The Mullet.— The Tom Cod, or Frostfish.— The Porgy 277 CHAPTER XL TROUT FLY-FISHING. — OUTFIT AND TACKLE. Wading-Jacket. — Trousers. — Boots. — Creel or Basket. — Landing-Net. — Rods. — Reels. — Lines. — Leaders. — Flies. — The Whip . . 305 CONTENTS. xvii CHAPTER XII. TROUT FLY-FISHING. — THE STREAM. Casting the Fly. — Theory of strict imitation. — Striking and killing a Fish. — Likely places, how to fish them 327 CHAPTER XIII. SALMON-FISHING. Tackle used in Salmon-Fishing. — Rods. — Reels. — Reel-lines. — Cast- ing-lines.— Salmon-fiies. — Materials required for Salmon-flies for American rivers. — Salmon-flies for the rivers of New Brunswick and Canada. — Theory and practice of Salmon-fishing. — Salmon- fishing compared with Trout-fishing. — Casting the fly. — The straight- forward cast, casting over the left shoulder, casting in difficult places, explained by diagrams. — Casting in an unfavorable wind. — Striking. — Playing a Salmon. — What a Salmon will do or may do. — Gaffing. — Camping on the river.— Camp equipage. — Protection against mosquitoes, black-flies, and midges. — Clothing, &c. — Cook- ing utensils. — Stores. — Cooking Salmon on the river. — To boil a Salmon. — To broil a Salmon. — Cold Salmon. — Soused Salmon, — To bake or steam a Grilse under the coals and ashes. — Kippered Salmon. — Smoked Salmon. — Law and Custom on the river . . 346 CHAPTER XIV. SALMON-RIVERS OF THE BRITISH PROVINCES. Salmon-rivers of Lower Canada. — Salmon-rivers emptying into or tributary to rivers flowing into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. — Salmon- rivers of New Brunswick. — Mirimichi. — Ristigouche. — Metapediac. — Cascapediacs. — Bonaventure. — Tittigouche. — Nipissiguit . . 379 CHAPTER XV. REPAIRS, KNOTS, LOOPS, AND RECEIPTS. Repairs. — To wax silk, thread, or twine. — Tying on hooks and making- loops, illustrated. — Splicing a line and splicing a rod, illustrated. — Knots. — The angler's single and double knot, and knot used in 2 Xviii CONTENTS. tying on drop-flies, illustrated. — A gang of hooks, illustrated. — Receipts. — For making wax. — For dyeing gut. — For dyeing feathers and dubbing 405 CHAPTER XVI. FLY-MAKING. Implements. — Hand- Vice, Spring-Pliers, &c. — Book for holding mate- rials.— Materials. — Hooks. — Gut. — Tinsel. — Dubbing.— Hackles.— Wings. — To tie a plain Hackle. — To tie a Palmer. — To make a fly with wings 419 CHAPTER XVII. ROD-MAKING. Woods used in making rods. — Wood and Malacca cane for fly-rods. — Materials used by amateur rod-makers. — To make a fly-rod of three pieces. — To make a tip. — To stain a rod. — Oiling and varnishing. — Wrapping splices and putting on rings. — To make a " rent and glued," or quarter- sectioned tip. — Draw-plate and V tool illustrated and explained. — Manner of splitting cane and joining the pieces of a quarter-sectioned tip described by diagram. — Making middle pieces and tips without splices. — Manner of making a fly-rod to be adjusted to light or heavy fishing. — Ferule-making . . . 441 CHAPTER XVIII. FISH-BREEDING. Causes of the decrease of Salmon and Trout. — Remarks on fish-ponds and the manner of stocking them. — Artificial Fish-Breeding — with illustrations, showing the manner of expressing the ova and milt, the arrangement of hatching-troughs, and the growth of the fish ; from " A Complete Treatise on Artificial Fish-Breeding," by W. H. Fry, Esq., with some remarks of the author of this work. — The Aquarium — its appropriate size and form, and manner of stocking it with fish and introducing suitable aquatic plants , . 459 CONTENTS. XIX DIES PISCATORIiE. The " Houseless Anglers" Page 489 The Noonday Roast 497 First Nooning — Trout-fishing in Hamilton Counly, New York . 503 Second Nooning — Trout-fishing in New Hampshire . . .513 Third Nooning — Trout-fishing in the regions of Lake Superior . 531 Fourth Nooning — Trout-fishing in the Adirondacks . . 547 Fly-Fishing Alone 567 The Angler's Sabbath ... 589 Conclusion 599 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. FRONTISPIECE— VIEW OF THE GRAND FALLS ON THE NIPISSI- GUIT, From a Photograph by Russel, of St. John, N. B. RIVER SCENE ....... Page 5 MALACOPTERYGII AND ACANTHOPTERYGII— POSITION OP PINS IN THE TWO ORDERS POSITION OF T^ETH AND GILL-COVBRS HOOKS AND SWIVELS ROCKFISH, OR STRIPED BASS . UNCLE ROLLY ..''... WHITE PERCH.— GRAY PERCH . FRESH-WATER BASS OF THE SOUTH AND WEST BLACK BASS OF THE NORTHERN LAKES ORAPPIE, OR SAC-A-LAI YELLOW-BARRED PERCH .... SUNPISH, OR SUNNY .... PISHING FOR SUNNIES .... GREAT NORTHERN LAKE PICKEREL CANADIAN BOATMAN .... MASCAL0N6E ..... POND PIKE ..... GORGE-HOOK ..... THE MAJOR . . . . THE HOSTLER TELLING A FISH STORY THE CHUB-FISHER'S IMPROVED UMBRELLA GIRL FISHING FOR ROACH . 57 68 66 81 89 90 99 103 111 114 115 117 131 134 136 138 139 146 150 160 162 (xxi) XXll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. BROOK TROUT .... SALMON .... GROWTH OF THE YOUNG SALMON SALMON-FRY.— PINK AND SMOLT . GUIDE ..... GREAT LAKE TROUT . LESSER LAKE TROUT GANof OP HOOKS, BAITED SMELT ..... CHILDREN ON A TROUT STREAM . SHEEPSHEAD .... WEAK-FISH .... BARB OR KINGFISH SPOT, PIGFISH, OR GOODY . CROAKER ..... REDFISH OF THE GULF OF MEXICO BLUEFISH OR SNAPPING MACKEREL . SPANISH MACKEREL . POMPANO.— CREVALLE BOAT ..... TROUT-FLIES .... LANDING-NETS FOR FLY-FISHING . . HEAD OF A TROUT THE OLD SPRING BY THE ROADSIDE REEL FOR SALMON-FISHING SALMON-FLIES RIGHT AND LEFT-SHOULDERED, AND DIFFICULT BARK-PEELER'S HORSE AND STABLE CANOEMAN - . . . . TYING ON HOOKS AND LOOPS SPLICING LINE AND ROD KNOTS ..... GANG ..... SETTLER'S CABIN PIN-VICE AND SPRING PLIERS . FLY-MAKING .... FEATHER CUT FOR WINGS "PLEASE, SIR, GIVE ME A FLY-HOOK?" PAO« . 194 • . 206 224 . 227 247 • . 249 255 • . 268 263 ' . 274 280 . . 283 . 286 . 289 291 • . 293 294 . 296 298 . 302 305 • . 307 325 . 342 348 . 353 UL T CASTING 362 • • . 376 • 402 . 406 . 408 • . 409 409 . . 416 . 420 . . 429 . 434 . . 438 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, XXlll ROD-MAKING— V TOOL AND DRAW-PLATE MAKING QUARTER-SECTIONED TIPS MALACCA CANE . . FISH-BREEDING— HATCHING TROUGHS EXPRESSING THE SPAWN OVA AND YOUNG SALMON . SCIENTIFIC ANGLING SAW-MILL ON TROUT STREAM AFTER THE ROAST " THEE MUSN'T GO THROUGH THAT RYE !" A THIEF'S PORTRAIT UNCLE LOT .... BLACKSMITH'S BOY DISCUSSING THE DRAFT OFF FOR A DEER DRIVE . WATCHING FOR DEER STONE THROWER . SAND-PIPERS .... RIVER SCENE PAOK 449 . 450 451 . 468 469 . 477 482 . 494 500 . 610 628 . 644 662 . 664 66« . 66-1 676 . 686 698 CHAPTER I. ANGLING. "QoiVERiNa feai'B, heart-teariug cures, Anxious Bighs, untimely tears, Fly, fly to courts, Fly to fond worldlings' sports, Where strained Sardonic smiles are glosing still, And grief is forced to laugh against her will ; Where mirth's but mummery, And sorrows only real be. 'Fly from our country pastimes, fly, Sad troops of human misery : — Come, serene looks, Clear as the crystal brooks. Or the pure azured heaven that smiles to see The rich attendance on our poverty; Peace, and a secure mind. Which all men seek, we only find." Walton. CHAPTER I. ANGLING. Its harmonizing influences, — Recollections of Angling in boyhood, its after influence on manhood. — Its social tendency. — What and Who is an Angler ? — Different kinds of Anglers. — The Snob Angler. — The Greedy Angler. — The Spick-and-Span Angler. — The Rough-and-Ready Angler. — The Literary Angler. — The Shad-roe Fisherman. — The English Ad- miral, an Angler. — The True Angler. , It is not my intention to offer any remarks on the antiquity of Angling, or say mucli in its defence. Dame Juliana Berners, Isaac Walton, and more recent authors, have discoursed learnedly on its origin, and defended it wisely and valiantly from the aspersions and ridicule of those who cannot appreciate its quiet joys, and who know not the solace and peace it brings to the harassed mind, or how it begets and fosters contentment and a love of nature. I ask any caviller to read Dr. Bethune's Bibliographical Preface to his edition of Walton ; and then Father Izaak's address to the readers of his discourse, ''but especially to THE HONEST ANGLER," and accompany him in spirit, as Bethune does, by the quiet Lea, or Cotton by the bright rippling Dove; and if he be not convinced of the blessed influences of the *' gentle art," or if his heart is not warmed, or no recollections of his boyish days come back to him, I give him up without a harsh word, but with a feeling of regret, that a lifetime should be spent without attaining so much of quiet happiness that might have been so easily (27) 28 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. possessed, and quoting a few sad words from Whittier's Maud^Muller, I only say '• it might have been." Many anglers, such as Sir Humphrey Davy and Sir Joshua Reynolds, besides some of my own acquaintance, have sought its cheering influences in advanced life. I know of one whose early manhood and maturer years were spent on the boister- ous deep, and who, though now past eighty, is still an ardent, but quiet angler; and when no better sport can be founds he will even fish through the ice in winter for Roach. No doubt his days have been lengthened out, and the burden of life lightened, by his love of angling. But how sweetly memories of the past come to one who has appreciated and enjoyed it from his boyhood, whose almost first penny, after he wore jacket and trowsers, bought his first fish-hook; whose first fishing-line was twisted by mother or sister ; whose float was the cork of a physic vial, and whose sinkers were cut from the sheet-lead of an old tea- chest ! Thus rigged, with what glad anticipations of sport, many a boy has started on some bright Saturday morning, his gourd, or old cow's horn of red worms in one pocket, and a jack-knife in the other, to cut his alder-pole with, and wandered "free and far" by still pool and swift waters, dinnerless — except perhaps a slight meal at a cherry tree, or a handful of berries that grew along his path — and come home at night weary and footsore, but exulting in his string of chubs, minnows, and sunnies, the largest as broad as his three fingers ! He almost falls asleep under his Saturday night scrubbing, but in the morning, does ample justice to his " catch," which is turned out of the pan, crisp and brown, and matted together like a pan-cake. In my school days, a boy might have been envied, but not loved for proficiency in his studies ; but he was most courted, who knew the best fishing-holes ; who had plenty of powder ANGLING. 29 and shot ; the best squirrel dog, and the use of his father's long flintlock gun. And 1 confess, as I write these lines with my spectacles on, that I have still a strong drawing towards this type of a boy, whether I meet him in my lonely rambles, or whether he dwells only in my memory. Sometimes the recollection of our boyish sports comes back to us after manhood, and one who has been "addicted" to fishing relapses into his old " ailment ;" then angling becomes a pleasant kind of disease, and one's friends are apt to become inoculated with the virus, for it is contagious. Or men are informally introduced to each other on the stream, by a good-humored salutation, or an inquiry of "What luckf'' or a display of the catch, or the offer of a segar, or the flask, or a new fly ; and with such introduction have become fast friends, from that afiinity which draws all tj^ue anglers together. But let me ask what is an angler, and who is a true angler ? One who fishes with nets is not, neither is he who spears, snares, or dastardly uses the crazy bait to get fish, or who catches them on set lines ; nor is he who is boisterous, noisy, or quarrelsome; nor are those who profess to practise the higher branches of the art, and affect contempt for their more humble brethren, who have not attained to their proficiency, imbued with the feeling that should possess the true angler. Nor is he who brings his ice-chest from town, and fishes all day with worm or fly, that he may return to the city and boastingly distribute his soaked and tasteless trout among his friends, and brag of the numbers he has basketed, from fingerlings upwards. Anglers may be divided into almost as many genera and species as the fish they catch, and engage in the sport from as many impulses. Let me give, "en passant," a sketch of a few of the many I have met with. 30 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, There is the Fussy Angler, a great bore ; of course you will shun him. The "Snob" Angler, who speaks confidently and knowingly on a slight capital of skill or experience. The Grreedy, Pushing Angler, who rushes ahead and half fishes the water, leaving those who follow, in doubt as to whether he has fished a pool or rift carefully, or slurred it over in his haste to reach some well-known place down the stream before his companions. The company of these, the quiet, careful angler will avoid. We also meet sometimes with the "Spick-and-Span" Angler, who has a highly varnished rod, and a superabundance of useless tackle; his outfit is of the most elaborate kind as regards its finish. He is a dapper ^'well got up" angler in all his appointments, and fishes much in-doors over his claret and poteen, when he has a good listener. He frequently displays bad taste in his tackle, intended for fly-fishing, by having a thirty dollar multiplying reel, filled with one of Conroy's very best relaid sea-grass lines,- strong enough to hold a dolphin. If you meet him on the teeming waters of northern New York, the evening's display of his catch, depends much on the rough skill of his guide. The Eough-and-Ready Angler, the opposite of the afore- named, disdains all "tomfoolery," and carries his tackle in an old shot-bag, and his flies in a tangled mass. We have also the Literary Angler, who reads Walton and admires him hugely ; he has been inoculated with the sentiment only ; the five-mile walk up the creek, where it has not been fished much, is very fatiguing to him ; he " did not know he must wade the stream," and does not until he slips in, and then he has some trouble at night to get his boots off. He is provided with a stout bass rod, good strong leaders of salmon- gut, and a stock of Conroy's "journal flies," and ANGLING. 31 wonders if he had not better put on a shot just above his stretcher-fly. The Pretentious Angler, to use a favorite expression of the lamented Dickey Kiker, once Kecorder of the city of New York, is one " that prevails to a great extent in this com- munity." This gentleman has many of the qualities attri- buted by Fisher, of the ''Angler's Souvenir," to Sir Humphrey Davy. If he has attained the higher branches of the art, he affects to despise all sport which he considers less scientific ; if a salmon fisher, he calls trout "vermin;" if he is a trout fly-fisher, he professes contempt for bait fishing. We have talked with true anglers who were even disposed to censure the eminent Divine, who has so ably, and with such labor of love, edited our American edition of Walton, for affectation, in saying of the red worm, " our hands have long since been washed of the dirty things." The servant should not be above his master, and certainly " Iz. Wa.," whose disciple the Doctor professed to be, considered it no indignity to use them, nor was he disgusted with his " horn of gentles." But the Doctor was certainly right in deprecating the use of ground bait in reference to trout, when the angler can with a little faith and less greed soon learn the use of the fly. The Shad-roe Fisherraan. — The habitat of this genus (and they are rarely found elsewhere) is Philadelphia. There are many persons of the aforesaid city, who fish only when this bait can be had, and an idea seems to possess them that fish will bite at no other. This fraternity could have been found some years back, singly or in pairs, or little coteries of three or four, on any sun-shiny day from Easter to Whitsuntide, heaving their heavy dipsies and horsehair snoods from the ends of the piers, or from canal-boats laid up in ordinary — the old floating bridge at Gray's Ferry was a favorite resort for 32 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. them. Sometimes the party was convivial, and provided with a junk bottle of what they believed to be old rye. Before the gas-works had destroyed the fishing in the Schuylkill, I frequently observed a solitary individual of this species, wending his way to the river on Sunday mornings, with a long reed-pole on his shoulder, and in his hand a tin kettle of shad-roe; and his ''prog," consisting of hard-boiled eggs and crackers and cheese, tied up in a cotton bandana handkerchief. Towards nightfall "he might have been seen" (as James the novelist says of the horseman), trudging home- ward with a string of Pan Kock and White Perch, or " Catties" and Eels, his trowsers and coat sleeves well plastered with his unctuous bait, suggesting the idea of what, in vulgar parlance, might be called " a very nasty man." But let us not turn up our scientific noses at this humble brother ; nor let the home missionary or tract distributor rate him too severely, if he should meet with him in his Sunday walks ; for who can tell what a quiet day of consolation it has been to him ; he has found relief from the toils and cares of the week, and perhaps from the ceaseless tongue of his shrewish " old woman." If his sport has been good, he follows it up the next day, and keeps " blue Monday." We have seen some very respectable gentlemen in our day engaged in fishing with shad-roe at Fairmount Dam. The bar even had its representative, in one of our first criminal court lawyers. He did not "dress the character" with as much discrimination as when he lectured on Shakspeare, for he always wore his blue coat with gilt buttons : he did not appear to be a successful angler. " Per contra" to this was a wealthy retired merchant, who used to astonish us with his knack of keeping this difficult bait on his hooks, and his skill in hooking little White Perch. Many a troller has seen him sitting bolt upright in the bow of his boat on a cool morning ANGLING. 33 in May, with his overcoat buttoned up to his chin, his jolly spouse in the stern, and his servant amidship, baiting the hooks and taking off the lady's fish. The son also was an adept as well as the sire. Woe to the perch fisher, with his bait of little silvery eels, if these occupied the lower part of the swim, for the fish were all arrested by the stray ova that floated off from the " gobs" of shad- roe. As we love contrasts, let us here make a slight allusion to that sensible ^'old English gentleman," the Admiral, who surveyed the north-west coast of America, to see, if in the contingency of the Yankees adhering to their claim of ^'fifty- four forty," the country above Vancouver's Island was worth contending for. He was an ardent angler, and it is reported, that on leaving his ship he provided stores for a week, which comprised of course not a few drinkables, as well as salmon rods and other tackle, and started in his boats to explore the rivers and tributaries, which, so goes the story, were so crammed in many places with salmon, that they could be captured with a boat-hook ; and still with all the variety of salmon flies and the piscatory skill of the admiral and his officers, not a fish could be induced to rise at the fly. He returnea to his ship disheartened and disgusted, averring that the country was not worth contending for; that the Yankees might have it and be ; but it would be inde- corous to record the admiral's mild expletive. The Try£ Angler is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of gentle old Izaak. He has no affectation, and when a fly-cast is not to be had, can find amusement in catching Sunfish or Eoach, and does not despise the sport of any humbler brother of the angle. With him, fishing is a recreation, and a " calmer of unquiet thoughts." He never quarrels with his luck, knowing that satiety dulls one's appreciation of sport as much as want of success, but is ever content when he has 3 34 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. done his best, and looks hopefully forward to a more pro- pitious day. Whether from boat or rocky shore, or along the sedgy bank of the creek, or the stony margin of the mountain brook, he deems it an achievement to take fish when they are difficult to catch, and his satisfaction is in proportion. If he is lazy, or a superannuated angler, he can even endure a few days' trolling on an inland lake, and smokes his cigar, chats with the boatman, and takes an occasional "nip," as he is rowed along the wooded shore and amongst the beautiful islands. A true angler is generally a modest man ; unobtrusively communicative when he can impart a new idea ; and is evei ready to let a pretentious tyro have his say, and good- naturedly (as if merely suggesting how it should be done) repairs his tackle, or gets him out of a scrape. He is moderately provided with all tackle and ''fixins" necessary to the fishing he is in pursuit of. Is quietly self-reliant and equal to almost any emergency, from splicing his rod or tying his own flies, to trudging ten miles across a rough country with his luggage on his back. His enjoyment con- sists not only in tihe taking of fish : he draws much pleasure from the soothing influence and delightful accompaniments of the art. With happy memories of the past summer, he joins to- gether the three pieces of his fly-rod at home, when the scenes of the last season's sport are wrapped in snow and ice, and renews the glad feelings of long summer days. With what interest he notes the swelling of the buds on the maples, or the advent of the blue-bird and robin, and looks forward to the day when he is to try another cast! and, when it comes at last, with what pleasing anticipations he packs up his ''traps," and leaves his business cares and the noisy city behind, and after a few hours' or few days' travel in the cars, ANGLING. 35 and a few miles in a rough wagon, or a vigorous tramp over rugged hills or along the road that leads up the banks of the river, he arrives at his quarters ! He is now in the region of fresh butter and mealy potatoes — there are always good potatoes in a mountainous trout country. How pleasingly rough everything looks after leaving the prim city ! How pure and wholesome the air ! How beautiful the clumps of sugar-maples and the veteran hemlocks jutting out over the stream ; the laurel ; the ivy ; the moss-covered rocks ; the lengthening shadows of evening! How musical the old familiar tinkling of the cow-bell and the cry of the whip-poor- will ! How sweetly he is lulled to sleep as he hears " The waters leap and gush O'er channelled rock, and broken bush I" Next morning, after a hearty breakfast of mashed potatoes, ham and eggs, and butter from the cream of the cow that browses in the woods, he is off, three miles up the creek, a cigar or his pipe in his mouth, his creel at his side, and his rod over his shoulder, chatting with his chum as he goes ; free, joyous, happy ; at peace with his Maker, with himself, and all mankind ; he should be grateful for this much, even if he catches no fish. How exhilarating the music of the stream ! how invigorating its waters, causing a consciousness of manly vigor, as he wades sturdily with the strong current and casts his flies before him ! When his zeal abates, and a few of the speckled lie in the bottom of his creel, he is not less interested in the wild flowers on the bank, or the scathed old hemlock on the cliff above, with its hawk's nest, the lady of the house likely inside, and the male proprietor perched high above on its dead top, and he breaks forth lustily — the scene suggesting the song — ' The bee's on its wing, and the hawk on its nest, And the river runs merrily by." 3(5 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. When noon comes on, and the trout rise lazily or merely nip, he halts ''sub tegmine fagi," or under the shadow of the dark sugar-maple to build a fire and roast trout for his dinner, and wiles away three hours or so. He^dines sumptu- ously, straightens and dries his leader and the gut of his dropper, and repairs all breakage. He smokes leisurely, or even takes a nap on the green sward or velvety moss, and resumes his sport when the sun has declined enough to shade at least one side of the stream, and pleasantly anticipates the late evening cast on the still waters far down the creek. God be with you, gentle angler, if actuated with the feeling of our old master ! whether you are a top fisher or a bottom fisher ; whether your bait be gentles, brandling, grub, or red worm ; crab, shrimp, or minnow; caddis, grasshopper, or the feathery counterfeit of the ephemera. May your thoughts be always peaceful, and your heart filled with gratitude to Him who made the country and the rivers ; and " may the east wind never blow when you go a fishing!" CHAPTER II. GBNEEAL REMAKKS ON FISH. " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. * * * All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was made." CHAPTER 11. GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. Definition. — Origin and order in creation. — Natural mode of propagation. — , Habits as regards maternity. — Migration. — Vitality. — External or- gans.— Internal organization. — Ichthyology. A Fish, according to the definition of naturalists, is a vertebrate animal with red blood, breathing through water by means of branchiae, generally called gills. The term fish is frequently applied by unscientific persons, to animals not of the ichthyic class, as in the case of the Whale, which is a true mammal, but resembling the fish in many respects, although its tail is placed horizontally instead of in an upright position. Crustacea and Molluscs (Crabs, Lobsters, Oysters, Clams, and Muscles), are also erroneously called "shell-fish." In the records of Creation, as shown by Paleontologists, the remains of the earliest fishes appear in the upper Silurian system, immediately beneath the Old Eed Sandstone. They were the first vertebrate animals, and were cotemporaneous with the earliest terrestrial vegetation. These fish were all of one order, and are termed Placoids by Professor Agassiz. They had internal cartilaginous frames, and an external armature of plates, spines, and shagreen points. This order has representatives at the present day, in the Sharks and Dog- fish of our salt-water bays and inlets. Some of the ancient Sharks had a mouth terminal at the snout, and not under- neath as our man-eater, and instead of sharp incisors, the (39) 40 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, interior of the mouth and throat was thickly studded with hard, crushing teeth. Next to the Placoidal order, and before they had dimin- ished in number, came the Ganoids, whose covering consisted of a nearly continuous armor of hard bone with an enamelled surface. One of the few representatives of this order, known to us, is the '' Lepidosteus''' (the Gar-fish of the South and West), whose coat of mail appears to be made of diamond-' shaped pieces closely joined with sutures between. Hugh Miller says, '' with the Old Red Sandstone, the Ganoids were ushered upon the scene in amazing abundance, and for untold ages, comprising mayhap, millions of years; the entire Ichthyic class consisted, so far as is yet known, of but these two orders (Placoids and Ganoids). During the time of the Old Eed Sandstone, of the Carboniferous, of the Permean, of the Triassic, and of the Oolitic systems, all fishes apparently as numerous as they now are, were comprised in the Ganoidal and Placoidal orders. At length during the ages of the Chalk, the Cycloids and Ctenoids were ushered in, and gradually developed in (^reation until the human period, in which time they seem to have reached their culminating point, and now many times exceed in number all other fishes." The "Ctenoids," here mentioned by Miller, as the third' in order of Creation, is one of the four orders erected by Agassiz, and comprise all of those fishes, the free edges of whose scales are serrated or pectinated like the teeth of a comb. To this order belong the whole family of Perch, and other families which have sharp spinous dorsal fins. Amongst the Cycloids, are contained all those whose scales have smooth continuous margins; these are generally or entirely soft- finned fish, as the salmon, shad, herring, carp, chub, &c. In describing the fishes of the earlier periods, Hugh Miller GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. 4^ continues in his earnest manner: "The dynasty of the Ganoids was at one time co-extensive with every river, lake, and sea ; and endured during the unreckoned eons, which extended from the time of the lower Old Eed Sandstone until those of the Chalk. I may here mention, that as there are orders of plants, such as the Rosacae, and the grasses, that scarce preceded man in tlieir appearance ; so there are families of fishes that seem to belong peculiarly to the human period. * * * * ^ tjy\^Q delicate Salmonidse and Pleuronectidse families to which the Salmon and Turbot belong, were ushered into being as early as the times of the Chalk ; but the Gadidse or Cod Family did not precede man by at least any time appreciable to the geologist." "We might follow Miller further in his remarks, and might show the reptilean and ichthyic characteristics in the same animal ; a fish apparently approaching the reptile, and the reptile the fish. We do not intend here to go into a lengthy or scientific description of the roe as it exists in the female; its ejection and impregnation by the milt of the male ; its progress in incubation, and the production and growth of the young ; but refer the reader to our article on Pisciculture, for all essential information on so interesting a subject. All observing anglers know that the roe is contained in two sacks ; this, as well as the milt of the male, is gradually formed and developed as the fish arrives at the age of puberty, and the same rule of formation, and growth of the roe or milt, is repeated in the same individual after it recu- perates from the exhausting effects of spawning. Fish of the genus Salmo, which includes our Brook Trout., are amongst the few that spawn in autumn. The ova of these require water highly aerated, much oxygen being needed in the incubation. These select the gentle current of the streams, but if this is not accessible, as is the case in 42 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. sluggish trout rivers and lakelets, they find some pool with gravelly bottom where a cool spring enters. They generally spawn in pairs or communities. After preparing the bed, by displacing the gravel with their noses, and excavating an oblong furrow of a few inches in depth, the female deposits her spawn in the trench, and the male ejects his milt over it, when fecundation ensues and the gravel is replaced. Another furrow is then made; the spawn and milt cast; the ova covered over as before ; and the process repeated until the roe and milt are exhausted. The time required for hatching out the spawn, is various with the different orders and families. In the same genera, or even in the same species, the time may vary. Much de- pends on climate and the temperature of the water ; the warmer streams hatching out the eggs before those of a lower temperature. The spawn of the Trout, which is deposited from the middle of September to the first of November, produces the young from the first of December to the first of March, and in artificial ponds, if protected from the cold winds, the young fish are produced sooner, and grow faster than in streams of the forest. I have seen young Trout taken below an artificial pond, near Philadelphia, two inches long, in the latter part of April. Fish that spawn in still water generally deposit their ova on plants, which give out sufficient oxygen to promote fecun- dation. It is seldom that the young of any fish are taken by the angler during the first summer, as they avoid the waters where he finds his sport, and seek smaller streams, and shallower water, to escape the larger predatory fish ; the fact of their being of the same species as the destroyer, is no pro- tection to the small fry. It is unnecessary to go into an account of the mode of pro- GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. 43 Juction of viviparous fish, the Shark, for instance, and others that produce their youDg alive, as they are of little interest to the angler, as far as sport is concerned. Naturalists who confine themselves closely to in-door studies, sometimes adopt general rules and construct theories, to which observers of less scientific knowledge, but with more frequent opportunities for observation, find many exceptions. One would conclude from the writings of ichthyologists, that fish always desert their ova after fecundation, and, with slight precaution against enemies or accident, leave them to their fate; never caring for, or protecting their ova. It is true that many families, including the Salmonidse, are reck- lessly improvident of their fecundated spawn ; male Trout have been found with their stomachs full of the roe of their asso- ciates on the same spawning-bed. But to the rule which in- door naturalists suppose to be general, there are many excep- tions ; some of them interesting cases of provident care in the protection of the impregnated spawn, and even of maternal solicitude' for their young. We might instance that of the little Sunfish, which spawns in the month of June, around the gravelly shores of mill-ponds, removing the pebbles and twigs to the margin of its bed, which is frequently two or three feet in diameter, piling them up a few inches as a ram- part to its fortress, driving off all intruders, and keeping watch and ward until the young are hatched. The little Eed Fin, which spawns in communities, is frequently observed by the trout fisher constructing its mound of pebbles with skill and care. Scores or hundreds of them may be seen work- ing together assiduously, piling up alternate layers of gravel and impregnated spawn, until the top of the heap is some- times twelve or fifteen inches high, and its base three or four feet in diameter, leaving it a mass teeming with embryo life. The common Catfish of our mill-ponds and ditches may fro- 44 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. quently be seen with her family around her, protecting and seeking feeding grounds for her dusky progeny. The Stickle- back builds a nest, mounts guard, and pugnaciously warns off all intruders of like, or even larger size. All fish, in spawning, instinctively seek water containing more or less atmospheric air; Carp, and other Cyprinidse requiring less for the vivification of their eggs than other fresh-water species. Griffith, in his Animal Kingdom, says some of the Pelagian genera spawn amongst floating grass and sea-weed, and says that broad bands of fish-spawn have been seen south of the equator, producing mile-long patches of unruffled surface. I doubt whether this can be so ; if true, such instances are rare exceptions to the general rule of spawning on the bottom. The family of Gaddidse, which includes Codfish, it is sup- posed spawn in deep water, though this cannot be at any con- siderable distance beneath the surface, as the solar light, which is necessary to the hatching of the ova, does not penetrate many fathoms. The knowledge attainable respecting the haunts, habits and breeding of Pelagian fish is necessarily limited. Oviparous animals are the most prolific, and of these, fish excel all others. A full-grown Carp is said to produce from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand eggs, a Perch thirty thousand, a Pike from thirty to eighty thousand, and a Codfish a half a million. It is said that a single pair of Herrings, if allowed to reproduce undisturbed and multiply for twenty years, would not only supply the whole world with abundance of food, but would become inconveniently numerous. The average number of ova in a Salmon is stated at twelve thousand ; if it were possible that all these eggs produced fish, and they arrived at maturity, there would be twelve thousand Salmon, or six thousand pairs, whose produce, at the same GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. 45 rate, would be seventy-two millions. At an average of ten pounds, these fish, of the third generation, would weigh seven hundred and twenty million pounds, or enough to load three hundred and twenty -two ships, of a thousand tons each. Some fish produce large ova, covered with horny shells. Some few, including the true shark, are viviparous, producing their young alive ; the eggs, of course, being fecundated in the abdomen ; but with all fish which contribute to the sport of the angler, the female casts her roe, which is impregnated by the milt of the male being cast over it. There are no hermaphrodites amongst fish, as has been supposed by some ichthyologists, who cite the Lamprey as one. It has been satisfactorily ascertained, that amongst all the vertebrates, on land or in the water, there are no such ex- ceptions. There are immutable laws in God's providence, which compel the migration of fish as well as of birds. Some species are anadromous, as the Salmon, Sea Trout, Smelt, Shad, and River Herring; these change their habitation annually from the sea to fresh rivers, which they ascend for the purpose of spawning ; most of them with wonderful instinct returning, if there be no obstructions, to their native streams, and in their course supply us with food, when in their greatest physical perfection. After propagation, in meagre, lank condition, they seek the sea again, where, from the abundance and great nutritive quality of their food, they recuperate and grow rapidly. The young fry that go seaward diminutive in size, return the following spring or summer adult fish, perfect in their powers of reproduction. Some of the species common to the long rivers and great lakes of our interior, also change their abodes, traversing perhaps as great an extent of water as the Shad and Salmon, though not for the purpose of spawning. 46 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK That law of nature, tliough, whicli impels the migration of «?ome genera to distant waters of the ocean is most wonderful. Many Herring and Codfish come to us from the Arctic seas, the former are the surplus production of that great storehouse thrown off, never to return ; furnishing in their distant jour- ney, food to the barbarians of the coast, and wealth and occu- pation to vast numbers of civilized men ; and their yearly advent is looked for, and depended upon, with as much, confi- dence as the return of summer. The Scombridse, embracing the different species of Mack- erel, come to our latitudes from the south ; their natal shores and waters unknown ; they come all of them adult fish, fur- nishing food and employment to thousands, as well as a great maritime school for seamen ; it is most likely that most of these also never return to the regions from which they mi- grated. Many fish which are bred in the Gulf of Mexico, and the bays and inlets of our southern coast, arrive in our waters mature fish, and are found all summer in our markets. Amongst these are the splendid Spanish Mackerel, the Sheepshead, Croaker, Barb, Spot, and Mullet. These Ave may reasonably set down as the surplus production of the waters where they breed, and probably never return from their long northern journey. They are not known to us before the age of puberty, while their young are found in great shoals in the shallows of the Gulf of Mexico and our southern bays. The Sheepshead, in the New Orleans and Mobile markets, are most of them pa,n-fish, fi'om a half-pound to a pound and a half in weight, wbile they are seldom found in this latitude below four or five pounds. From any point of the southern coast which approaches the Gulf Stream, fish, by coming up with its current, would be sensible of little or no change of temperature. One cause of the migration of southern fish GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. 47 may be attributed to the sea- weed which comes northward with the Gulf Stream ; floating on its surface, and amongst, and in it, are found small Crustacea, minute Mollusca, gelati- nous animals, and the small fry, which many species follow to feed upon. It was supposed at one time that Shad and Herring, which enter our rivers for the purpose of spawning, migrated from the south, where it was thought they hibernated. Such sup- position was based upon the fact that these fish are found at an earlier period of the season in the bays and rivers of a more southern latitude on our coast. But it is now thought, with much greater show of reason, that they enter those waters earlier only because the season for spawning there, precedes that of our more northern rivers, and that these fish, as Avell as Salmon, do not wander any considerable distance from the mouths of rivers and bays from which they migrated the preceding summer or autumn. We should not omit, in these general remarks, to mention the peculiar powers given to some fish of existing for a time out of their natural element, and retaining their vitality when animation is apparently suspended ; and also the wonderful vitality of the impregnated spawn. It is well known by many of our city anglers, that the little Koach, which is taken in winter, and thrown upon the ice or snow, even if it is entirely frozen, will become quite lively if placed in hydrant water of ordinary temperature ; this is also said to be the case with the Trout, which, if transported in winter when frozen, will swim about, if placed in spring wafer. It is said, however, that fish once frozen, lose their sight ; the delicate organization of the eye being destroyed by its liquids having been congealed ; if this be a fact, it may prevent their breeding, on being transferred to other waters, in such condition. 48 AMERICANANGLER'SBOOK "When the temperature of the air is below sixty-five, it is very easy to wrap a Eoach or Chub of six inches long, in a wet handkerchief, and bring it home alive. White Perch, Labrax palUdus, taken towards sundown in cool weather, if placed carefully in a basket, will live more than an hour, and be as lively in a few minutes in a tub of hydrant water as in the river. A friend assured me that once, when a boy, during a driz- zling rain, he got up into a cherry tree, and in order to keep hi ; string of Catfish, which he had lately caught, from the depredations of some hogs beneath, he took them up also, while he got his fill of cherries, and that he forgot his fish in his hurried departure, but found on going back for them the same afternoon, that they were nearly all alive, and evinced it by flapping their tails. Here w«s an instance of fish living out of water with a switch thrust through one (;f their gills. It is stated on good authority, that in Germany, Carp are even kept in a basket or net in a' damp cellar, through winter, with the snout protruding through wet moss, and fed with crumbs of bread, and fattened after the manner of cramming poultry. In China, the spawn of fish is a regular article of traffic, and is exported from one part of the country to another, after being impregnated with the milt. It is an established fact, that on draining Carp ponds in Q-ermany, to cultivate the soil, which had been flooded and made a fish-pond of, for the purpose of enriching it, that the spawn of the Carp, left after drawing off' the water, does not lose its vitality, though exposed for two or three years to the heat of summer and frost of winter ; and that, when the field is again converted into a pond, there is no necessity for restocking it with Carp, but the ova remaining beneath the GENERAL REMARKS ON PISH. . 49 surface of the ground produces a stock of Carp ; thus keepinoj up an alternation of crops — fisli and vegetables. The ability of a fish to return to its vitality out of water, depends in a great degree on keeping the delicate tissue of its gills wet. For this reason, a few of them have a peculiar construction m the head, in which water is retained after leaving a river or lake ; the gills being kept wet by percola- tion from this reservoir. Such fish sometimes have also the power of using the lower fins as feet or legs, and are enabled, by these two singular gifts of nature, to pass over land from one body of water to another. Incredible as it may appear, it is even said, that in India, there is a species offish that by an extraordinary use of its fins can climb trees. A friend, who is curious on such subjects, has handed me the following account of those that travel over land ; it was clipped from one of our daily papers. " Sir Bmmerson Tennant's account of fishes walking across the country, has excited much astonishment and no little incredulity in England. The following passage from the Penang Gazette, is singularly corroborative of that gentleman's statement : — " 'A correspondent in Province Wellesley informs us that while passing along during a shower of rain, the wide sandy plain which bounds the sea-coast in the neighborhood of Panaga, he witnessed a singular overland migration of Ikan Puyu (a fish much resembling the Tench in size, form, and color), from a chain of fresh- water lagoons lying immediately within the sea-beach, toward the second chain of lagoons, about a hundred yards distant inland. The fish were in groups of from three to seven, and were pursuing their way in a direct line towards a second chain of lagoons, at the rate of nearly a mile an hour. When disturbed they turned round and endea- vored to make their way back to the lagoon they had left, and 4 50 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. would very soon have reached it, had they not been secured by the Malays who accompanied our correspondent, and who looked upon the migration as an ordinary occurrence at this season of the year. Upwards of twenty were thus taken during a walk of about half a mile, and no doubt many more could have been obtained had the Malays been allowed a little delay. The ground these fish were traversing was nearly level, and only scantily clothed with grass and creeping salolaceous plants, which offered very slight obstruction to their progress. This singular habit will account for the rapidity with which the paddy fields in Province Wellesley become stocked with fish when they are flooded by the rains. The lagoons from which they come contain water throughout the year, while those toward which they are going are mere hollows, filled by the late rains.' " Although digestion in fish is rapid, they are capable of living longer without food than land vertebrates, and appa- rently suffer little from an abstinence of many days. Fish of quick growth digest food rapidly. It is said that a Pike will digest a fish of one-fourth its length in forty minutes. If this be so, it sufficiently accounts for the circumstance of this and other predatory species being found so often without food in their stomachs, and little or nothing in their intestines. It is yet a mystery, how Shad fatten and increase in flavor after their appearance in fresh water ; no food ever having been detected in their stomachs after leaving salt water. The same emptiness of stomach is also common to the Salmon when taken in fresh water : this peculiarity appears to prevail with anadromous fish. The several species of the genus Goregonus (Whitefish) of our northern lakes, are also said to be found generally with empty stomachs. There is a theory adopted by many, that such fish as the last mentioned, as well as the Shad, live GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. 51 on the animalculae retained in the passage of the water through their gills. Shad caught in the salt water of the Chesapeake Bay and brought to this city, have been found with small fish in their stomachs, but they were of species known only in salt water. All fish are more or less omnivorous I have opened Rock- fish, which are known to be predatory in their habits, and found the tender shoots and stalks of aquatic grasses in the throat and pouch. The fish which furnish sport to the angler, have generally eight fins ; two pectorals, two ventrals, one anal, two dorsals, and one caudal. The pectorals, as the term implies, are the breast fins, and project from the humeral bones ; they are homologous to the arms in man, or the fore legs of quadrupeds. The ventrals, named from being attached to the belly, in most spine-rayed fish, are immediately or nearly under the pectorals ; in sofb- finned fish, about midway between the head and tail. The anal is immediately behind the vent; the dorsals on the back ; and the caudal, which is generally called the tail, is the hindmost fin. This last fin is the chief motor ; it is used as an oar in sculling, and acts also as a rudder : the dorsals and anal preserve the equilibrium, or, in nautical phrase, keep the fish on an "even keel." The ventrals are used principally in rising, and the pectorals in backing, and keep- ing the fish stationary ; when they are used alternately, and not simultaneously, as any other pair of fins. The eye of the fish has no lids, as land animals have, but a very thin transparent membrane drawn over it, which does not give it the power of excluding the light ; hence the eyes are always open, whether awake or asleep — if a fish can be said to sleep. By the prominence of its eyes it is able to direct its sight, somewhat backward and downward, as well AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK as forward and upward. The iris is capable of no contraction or expansion, and in order to avoid an objectionable degree of ligbt, it seeks greater depths, or the shady banks of the stream. As the fish may be said to have no neck, its head being set immovably on its shoulders and spine, it is neces- sary to change the position of its whole body, in order to obtain much variety in the direction of its vision. The nostrils are situated between the eyes and the snout ; they are double, and not constructed in such manner as to allow the water to pass through them in breathing, that func- tion being performed entirely by the gills. Notwithstanding this, smell appears to be the most acute of all the senses in fish, and one which contributes much to procuring their food. The gill-covers, in the generality of fish, are divided into four parts : the preopercle, the opercle, or gill-cover proper, the subopercle, and the interopercle. The opercles are in- tended as a protection to the delicate organization of the gills and branchiostegous rays, and open and close as the water passes through them. That brilliant substance which imparts a metallic lustre of so many hues to fish, is secreted in the dermis or skin, beneath the scales ; the scales themselves are transparent, and are formed of a horny substance, though, in some families, the outer covering is of a bony substance, and frequently covered with an enamel. The " lateral line," is a series of perforated scales, which extend in most fish from the gill- cover to the root of the tail. The gills consist of series of leaflets, suspended to certain arches, termed "Os hyodes;" each leaflet is covered with a tissue of innumerable blood-vessels. The water which enters the mouth escapes through the gills posteriorly, and the air contained in the water acts on the blood, which is constantly impelled through the gills from the heart. The venous blood. GENERAL REMARKS ON PISH. 53 after being changed into arterial, by its contact with the air in its passage through the gills, passes into the arterial trunk, situated under the spine, and is dispersed by diminishing blood-vessels, through the body, whence it returns by the veins to the heart. As Fish breathe through the intervention of water alone, and restore to their blood its arterial qualities, by means of the oxygen which is suspended in the water, their blood is naturally cold, often below the temperature of the water they inhabit. Immediately under the back bone is the air-bladder, divided into two lobes or parts, which, by expansion or compression, enables the fish to change its specific gravity, and maintain any desired elevation in the water. In con- nection with the gills, the air-bladder is homologous to the lungs in land animals. There is no outward ear in fishes ; internally there is a sack representing the vestibule, filled with gelatinous fluid. By frequent experiments, Mr. Ronalds, the author of " The Fly-Fisher's Entymology," ascertained that trout are not dis- turbed by frequent and heavy discharges of firearms, if the flash of the gun is concealed, and justly holds in derision, the notion, that fish are frightened by persons talking on a stream. They are more easily startled by the sudden jar of a heavy tramp on an overhanging bank, or a thump on the bottom of a boat ; the vibration from either of these causes, acting on the nerves generally, rather than on the ear of the fish. There are instances recorded, however, where fish have been called by the ringing of a bell, or a familiar voice. There are no organs of voice in fish ; though some, — as the Weakfish, Croaker, Catfish, and Drum, make a croaking noise when taken from the water, but these sounds are en- tirely ventral. The sense of taste is necessarily deficient, or wholly want- 54 AMERICAN ANGLE R'S BOOK iug ; tlie tongues of some species are nothing more than hard cartilage, in others the tongue is armed with teeth. None have the salivary glands to lubricate the parts with the moisture necessary to the sensation of taste. The sense of feeling is confined almost entirely to the nose ; most fish being covered with scales, which are of a horny or bony substance, with as little sensation as a man's finger-nails. In some, as the southern Grarfish, the scales are enamelled, and it is said, resist a bullet if not fired point blank. The Catfish, and also the Barb (a species of Umbrina) have barbels or cirri, by which they appear to detect the nature of substances and whether they be food or not. These organs of touch, as they may be termed, are provided by nature to assist them in their nocturnal search, or groping in deep water for food. Yarrell, in his work on the Fishes of Grreat Britain, says : " There are external openings to each nostril, surrounded by several orifices, which allow the escape of a mucous secretion. These apertures are larger and more numerous about the heads of fishes generally, than over the other parts; the viscous secretion defending the skin from the action of the water. Whether the fish inhabits stream or lake, the current of the water in one instance, or progression through it in the other, carries this defensive secretion backwards, and diffuses it over the whole body. In fishes with small scales, this secretion is in proportion more abundant." The latter part of the above quotation sufficiently explains the presence of a large supply of this mucous secretion on Trout and Catfish, and the increased quantity of slime on Eels. Teeth, with which fish are generally well supplied, are not not only serviceable in seizing their prey, but by their peculiar position and form assist them in swallowing it. Teeth are found in many genera on the maxillaries, inter- maxillaries, palatine, vomer, and tongue ; sometimes also on GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. 55 the arches of the gills, as in the Pike ; but only on the pha- ryngeal bone of the Chub — apparently backing the assertion of the little boy, who said it had " swallowed its teeth." Teeth are of some importance to the naturalist, in deter-, mining genera and species. The observing angler will know from them, the habits of fish, whether they are predatory, or live on vegetable substances, or by crushing molluscs and Crustacea. Fish shed their teeth, the new coming up beneath the old and displacing them, or the new tooth appears at the side, pushing out the old one and occupying its place. The fish being so different in its structure and internal organization from land vertebrates, and inhabiting a cold, dense element, must necessarily differ also in its emotional nature. It is coldly obtuse in its sexual emotions, and in its cares or joys of maternity ; no feeling of friendship attaches it to a higher being, as with the dog. With blunted sense of hear- ing and voiceless, no call of mate attracts it, or draws forth response, as in the bird. And in the dense medium through which it looks, no object delights its lidless eye. Reproducing its species, or migrating in obedience to a law of its nature, it appears with many families, as if condemned to roam the wastes of ocean, or lie torpidly in silent depths, until storm or hunger or enemy incites it to activity. Yet this class of animals, so cold, so dull in its sensations ; is one of the most beautiful and wonderful of the Almighty's creations — nothing exceeds it in its symmetrical propor- tions; no form so well adapted for motion through the element it inhabits ; no organs of motion so well contrived for imparting rapid and easy progress as its fins ; no bur- nished or molten silver, or gold, more brilliant than the varied reflections of its sides ; no armor so light, or so well adapted to its wearer, as its lustrous scales. It will always f)6 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. remain an object of interest to man, from its beauty, the strangeness of its habits, the mystery of its haunts, and its trt^kless wanderings. Ichthyology. — To the angler, this is the most interesting of the natural sciences. It received little attention until the time of Linnaeus. Afterwards Cuvier, by a more natural and judicious classification, divided the Ichthyic class into Orders, Families, Genera, and Species, which has been adopted in the main, by all ichthyologists who have succeeded him. Of the four orders established by Professor Agassiz, already mentioned in reference to palaeontology ; the two last, Ctenoids and Cycloids only, come properly within the scope of the angler's ichthyology. The Ctenoids are those whose scales are pectinated on the edges ; these comprise all the Acanthoptherygii, which em- brace the Perch family; and a few of the Malacopterygii. The Cycloids have scales with a continuous margin, and include most of the Malacopterygii, or at least those with which the angler has to do. The term " Acanthopterygii'' is derived from the Greek words, acantha, a thorn, and p^err?/^2'o?i, a little feather. " Malacopterygii" has its origin in the Greek word malacos soft. The wood-cut on the next page is introduced to elucidate the difference between these two divisions, and to explain at the same time the position of the different fins, and their scientific names. The upper figure represents the outline of a Trout, one of the Malacopterygii ; the lower, that of our White Perch, one of the Acanthopterygii. The first fin on the back of either figure is the first dorsal; the second back fin is the second dorsal; the fins just behind the gill-covers are the pectorals ; the ventral fins in the Malacopterygii are about midway on GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH 57 the belly ; in the Acanthopterygii, they are just below the pectorals, or very near them; the anal fin in both is just behind the anus or vent; the caudal, the hindmost fin, is commonly called the tail. Of fish that come under the notice of the angler, the Maia- copterygii embrace those that are called '^ abdominal,^"' from having the ventral -fins on the belly. The Acanthopterygii include the ''thoracic^'' which have the ventrals near the throat. Some families of the former division have only one dorsal fin, others two, and some even three, as the Codfish. The Acanthopterygii have either one or two dorsals ; if only one, the anterior rays are spinous, and the posterior soft and flexible ; if they have two dorsals, the first is composed of sharp spines, and the second of rays, or one or two spines followed by soft rays: this division has also one or more spines on the pectorals and on the anal fin. With the excep- tion of the Salmorddse and Esocidx, nearly all of the game- fish the angler meets with, belong to the Acanthopterygii. The Acanthopterygii belong to the order of Ctenoids, and the Malacopterygii mostly to the Cycloids. 58 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. The reader will observe the peculiar shape of the second dorsal of the first figure ; it is one of the characteristic marks of the Salmonidde. No other family the angler meets with, has it except the Saluridae (Catfisli). This fin is adipose, generally opaque, and without rays — being nothing more than a flexible cartilage. The first figure of tlie annexed wood-cut represents a front view of tbe open mouth of one of the species of the Salmon family, and shows the position of the teeth. Those along the centre of the roof of the mouth above 1, are on the vomer ; those on the sides above 2, are on the palate ; those around 3 are the pharyngeal teeth ; those on the edge of the upper jaw, are the upper or super maxillaries ; and, those on the edge of the lower jaw, the lower or inferior maxillaries. The second figure of the same plate shows the anatomical structure of the head, including a side view of the teeth. 1 is the preopercle or fore gill-cover ; 2, the opercle or gill- cover proper ; 3, the subopercle or under gill-cover ; 4, the interopercle or intermediate gill-cover ; and 5, the branchios- tegous rays, or, as they are more generally termed, the branchial rays. By reference to the foregoing wood-cuts, and reading with some care, scientific descriptions of fish, an angler may be able to describe any species, which may be unknown to him, GENERAL REMARKS ON FISH. 5^ with sufficient accuracy, for the naturalist to refer it to its fiimily, genus, and species. Any description of a fish, is of course rendered more intelli- gible by an accompanying sketch, even if it is rudely done. And if the angler will describe, as accurately as he can, the general outline and form ; the proportions of the length of the head to that of its body (exclusive of the tail) ; its breadth, as compared with its length ; its color, markings, and the course of the lateral line ; the gill-cover and fore gill- cover, whether either or both have scales, and on which they are largest — mentioning also, if the gill-cover has spines on its posterior margin ; the number of branchial rays, fin rays, and spines, also the color of the fins ; the dental arrangement, and then the general local names : he may contribute much that will be interesting to others, while it will be a source of satisfaction to himself. Linnasus received his description of American fishes from Dr. Gordon, of South Carolina. Bloch, and Schoef (who was a surgeon in the British army, during the American Revolution), as well as Catesby, contributed, though meagrely, to our ichthyology. The descriptions of the latter were mostly of the fish of the Caribbean Sea, and our Southern coast. In 1820, Rafinesque, a French naturalist, published at Lexington, Kentucky, an account of the fishes of the Ohio and its tributaries. His nomenclature, as well as his mode of description and classification, differs from that of Cuvier ; his descriptions, generally, are not minute, but some of them are interesting. His work is not illustrated by drawings. Bosc gave Lacepede descriptions of some species found in our waters. In 1814, Dr. Mitchil, of New York, entered with some zeal into the work ; and, in periodicals, described more species than had been before noticed. In 1836, Dr. Richardson produced his "Fauna Boreali." QQ AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK which includes some of our Northern genera. Dr. Storer, in 1839, published an able report of the fishes of Massachusetts. De Witt Clinton, Mr. Wood, of Philadelphia, Redfield and Haldeman, also contributed to this branch of natural science. It was reserved, however, for Dr. De Kay to give the first elaborate description of American fish, which he did by authority of the state of New York in 1842 ; his work is illustrated by engravings that are badly colored, and some of them are incorrectly drawn. He enumerates thirty -two fami- lies, one hundred and fifty-six genera, and four hundred and forty species. His description includes the Lacustrine genera, as well as those of the coast of New York. Amongst the latter are many that are emigrants from Southern waters, which fact he fails to note. Dr. Holbrook, of Charleston, has recently published an interesting work on the fishes of South Carolina, which is of much interest to the angler, as it con- tains an account of the habits, as well as scientific descrip- tions of many game-fish, common to this latitude and the Western States. His work is beautifully illustrated with colored engravings. Gira;rd, Gill, and Professor Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, have recently made valuable additions to American ichthyology. In closing these observations on the natural history of fish, it is proper to remark, that they are those of a mere angler, who aspires to no place amongst the learned doctors, and who has picked up such information, as he has imparted to the general reader, from the books of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and from his own observations noted here and there, as any fish that takes a bait has interested him. He presents what is here written with the hope of inciting other anglers to a study of the fishes that afford so much pleasure in the takir^ of them. CAAPTER III. TACKLE IN GENEBAL. " Let me tell you, Scholar, that Liogenes walke* tube, which has a screw on the outer circumference ; this screw is fitted into a nut in the end of a ferule fastened on the end of a short han- dle. The handle can be unscrewed, and the net may be packed in the creel by slightly compressing the bow. It is carried, when fishing, in the same way as the net before described, buttoned to the wading-jacket by a tab. For fear I may fail to mention it elsewhere, I would here impress on the angler the convenience, and, as it frequently turns out, the absolute necessity, of having fine and coarse silk and twine in his pockets, as well as the indispensable lump 308 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. of shoemaker's wax pressed between the folds of a stout piece of leather, for it may be that he will have to splice his line or rod, or repair other damage. Fly-Eods. — There is as great a diversity in the size and flow of the waters where Trout are found, as there is in the size of the fish found in them ; it is therefore expedient for an angler who fishes all waters, to have two rods for casting the fly.. For the rivers and lakes of Maine, the streams of Canada, and wherever Trout are found in large waters, a good stout rod of not less than twelve and a half or thirteen feet is best ; it should weigh at least twelve ounces. Though withy, it should have a stiffish tip ; the line, leader, and flies required in such waters being larger than the fly-tackle in general use. For the lively tributaries of the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Hudson, the streams of New England, and for brook-fishing generally, where wading is necessary, a rod from seven to nine ounces in weight, and from twelve to twelve feet four inches long, is most suitable. A rod of this size is so light, that incessant casting does not weary one, and the size of the fish does not make a rod of greater power necessary. Having a preference for such streams as last mentioned, I give my notion of what a rod for such fishing should be, from one made for my own use. Using a scale with minute fractions of an inch and a pair of callipers, I find the diameters at various distances from the lower end of the butt, as follows: — The grasp of the rod, say at eight inches from the lower end, is one inch ; at eighteen inches, ^1 ; at twenty-four inches, l^; Sbt four feet (the first ferule), H ; at six feet, 3^5 ; at eight feet (the splice, or upper ferule), 3^^ ; at ten feet (the middle of the tip), 3% ; at the extreme tip, /^. The butt of a fly-rod should be of well-seasoned white ash, the middle joint of iron wood, and the tip of quartered and TROUT FLY-FISHING. 309 spliced bamboo. The raanner of making tips of this kind is explained in an article on ''Kod Making," found in a subsequent chapter. The tip would be as efl&cient, though not so stiff, if twelve or eighteen inches of the stouter part were of the same wood as the middle joint. The groove which holds the reel should be hehw the place where the rod is grasped by the hand. I prefer its extending beneath the ferule at the extreme butt ; the " balance" of the rod is thus thrown nearer the hand, and its weight " out- board"— ^to use a nautical phrase — is reduced, and the fatigue of the wrist and forearm in casting is thus lessened, or scarcely felt. To avoid the difficulty of taking off the reel, which so often occurs from the swelling of the wood, and the conse- quent tightening of the reel -bands, I have adopted the plan of having no sliding band, but to secure one end of the strip to which the reel is fastened by slipping it under the butt ferule, and binding down the other end with a neat braid or buckskin string, three or four turns being sufficient to hold it tight. To provide also against a similar inconvenience, I make each joint of my fly-rods without the usual wooden socket at the lower end of the outside ferule, and consequently without any projection of the wood below the end of the male ferule, which fits into it ; for the reason that wood will swell on becoming damp, and . the plug — if I may so call it — expand- ing inside the wooden socket, will stick fast ; and the angler is under the necessity of taking his rod home unjointed, or doing some violence to the ferules. In fly-rods, the ferules which join the different pieces together are generally unnecessarily long, and interfere with the play and spring of the rod. There is no necessity for having the ferule which joins the middle piece to the butt more than two inches long, and that which joins the middle ;]10 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. piece to the tip more than one and a half inches. It is better, if the angler has the knack and patience, to join these two pieces by a neat splice about three inches long, which should be closely wrapped with coarse waxed silk. This splice will be all the more secure by rubbing each surface where they are brought in contact, with shoemaker's wax. In the days of stage-coaches, a rod of four pieces was most convenient in travelling, but of late years, when most fishing-grounds can be reached by rail, one of three pieces is easily and safely carried, and is preferred by most anglers, on account of its having fewer ferules. The rings through which the line passes should be as light as possible, gradually lessening in size towards the end of the tip, where they need not be larger than to allow the free passage of the line. Under the head of "Rod Making," I shall endeavor to impart to the reader whatever knowledge of suitable wood and materials I may have acquired as an amateur rod-maker; being well satisfied that the angler who has leisure, and aptness for mechanism, will derive additional pleasure from fishing with a rod of his own make. English writers recommend that the last six or eight inches of a fly-tip should be of whalebone. The objection to this is, that when this material is reduced to the requisite size, it becomes soft and inelastic from moisture, and brittle from cold or dryness ; in its former condition it is too limp to lift the line from the water with a proper spring. Some authors also recommend hollow butts, on account of their convenience for carrying extra tips ; they are now as obsolete as hazel tips and wooden reels. Such a rod as I have recommended might not stand a long day's fishing without warping, where the average size of Trout are such as Sir Humphrey Davy speaks of taking from his noble friend's preserves in the Coin or Wandle, or such as TROUT FLY-FISHING. ^H are to be found occasionally in the lakes of the Adirondack Mountains or Maine ; but for lightness, spring, and pleasant casting, a rod of this kind is generally preferred to a heavier or stouter rod, and will meet every demand made on its strength by the usual run of Trout found in a stream that requires wading. Few anglers, after having accustomed themselves, though only for a day, to casting with a light, pliant, one-handed rod as here described, are ever satisfied to resume a two-handed rod, or one of greater length and weight. There are many highly-finished one-handed English fly- rods imported and sold by tackle stores, but they are too stiff, besides being heavier by one-third than is necessary, and so clogged with unnecessary mountings, reel -fastenings, ferules, wrappings, and varnish, that the purchaser is apt to abandon them after a few seasons' experience, for a rod of his own designing, or his own make. The more weight or force applied to the tip of a well- proportioned fly-rod, the more the strain is thrown on the lower part ; exemplifying the principle of Eemington's bridge, in which the strain is longitudinal where the timbers are small, and transverse at the abutments. The color of a rod, if not too light, is of little importance ; it may be stained black or yellow ; the latter color should never be produced by strong acids, which are apt to impair the strength of the wood. Dark woods, of course, require no staining. A neutral tint is imparted by one or two coats of common writing-fluid, of bluish tint. Shellac, which is soluble in alcohol or ether, is generally preferred to copal varnish ; it should be applied thin ; the glare of the last coat should be removed from a new rod by sprinkling a little segar ashes on a wet rag. rubbing gently, and then wiping it off with clean water. 312 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK A good plan for protecting a rod from moisture, is to give it a thin coat or two of boiled linseed oil, after staining it. The oil should be applied warm, and rubbed well into the grain of the wood. It should dry thoroughly before var- nishing. In a rod for my own use I prefer a tip rea'sonably stiff, and the middle piece som.ewhat slight below the ferule that joins it to the tip. This is what some anglers call a " top-heavy" rod, which makes casting easier ; the tip being stifl&sh, lifts the line more readily from the water. Reels. — A small light reel, which will hold twenty- five yards of line, is best for Trout-fishing. One with a short axle, which brings the plates of the reel close together, is to be preferred; as it winds the line more compactly on the spool. I have a simple click reel of this kind, which is two inches in diameter and only three-quarters of an inch between the plates. John Krider, at the north-east corner of Second and Walnut streets, Philadelphia, generally keeps them on hand, or will have them made to order. Lines. — A plaited or twisted line of hair and silk, tapering for the last five or six yards, is by all odds the best for Trout-fishing. Leaders. — A leader should taper gradually from the end where it joins the line, to the end to which the stretcher -fly is attached, and should be two-thirds or three-fourths the length of the rod. I prefer making my own leaders to buying them at the tackle stores. It is very easily done by soaking the gut well, and using the angler's double knot. An illustration of this knot will be found in another chapter. Flies. — In giving a list of flies best adapted to American waters, I have done so without reference to the opinions of English writers, considering many of their rules and theories regarding flies inapplicable to our country. The observations TROUT FLY-FISHING. 313 here jotted down, are ratter the result of my own experience, as I have learned them on the stream and from members of our little club the " Houseless Anglers." Much, perhaps most, of the theoretical knowledge of flies acquired by the reading angler, when he begins, is obtained from the writings of our brethren of the " Fast-anchored Isle." Every fly-fisher can read Chitty^ Ronalds, Rene, " Ephemera," and others, with interest and profit. Though I do not pretend to condemn or think lightly of their pre- cepts, drawn from long experience of bright waters and its inmates, yet if followed without modification and proper allowance for climate, season, water, and insect life here as contrasted with England, the beginner is apt to be led into many errors, corrected only by long summers of experience. So he will come at last to the conclusion, that of the many flies described and illustrated in English books, or exhibited on the fly-makers' pattern-cards, a very limited assortment is really necessary, and many totally useless, in making up his book. He will also find, after the lapse of some years, that of the great variety with which he at first stored his book, he has gradually got rid of at least three-fourths of them, as he has of the theory of strict imitation, and the routine system, (that is, an exact imitation of the natural fly, and particular flies for each month), and settles down to the use of a half dozen or so of hackles and a few winged flies ; and with such assortment, considers his book stocked beyond any contin- gency. An extensive knowledge of flies and their names can hardly be of much practical advantage. Many a rustic adept is ignorant of a book ever having been written on fly-fishing, and knows the few flies he uses only by his own limited vocabulary. One of the most accomplished fly-fishers I ever met with has told me that his first essay was with the scalp 31-1- AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, of a red-headed woodpecker tied to the top of his hook. Notwithstanding all this, there is still a harmonious blending of colors or attractive hues, as well as the neat and graceful tying of a fly, that makes it killing. With these few preliminary remarks, I shall describe only the flies which I have used successfully, and refer the reader to the English works on angling just mentioned, for a descrip- tion of the great variety known by so many different names. Hackles and Palmers. The Bed Hackle. — This is what the renowned Mr. Conroy, of Fulton St., New York, calls a " Journal-Fly," which we suppose to mean a fly for general use. It is one of the indispensable hackles. All fly-fishers, from the country bobkin to the most experienced angler, have constant use for it ; few make their whip for the first cast of the season without it. It is particularly killing when the water is discolored by a freshet, at which time it is best as a stretcher on a No. 4 hook, and dressed Palmer* fashion. When used as a drop-fly, it should not be dressed on hooks larger than No. 6 or 7. It is a good fly from April to the 1st of September, after which, as Dr. Bethune righteously says, no " true-hearted angler" will wet a line in a Trout-stream. The body of this fly is made of red mohair or the ra veilings of red moreen or floss silk ; sometimes with yellow floss ; or the hurl of the peacock, the tail tipped with gold tinsel. If dressed as a Palmer, the body is wound with gold or silver thread; gold is best. The hackle should be of the darkest natural red, not dyed. The Soldier Hachle, from its high colors, is attractive on dark waters and deep pools, though not generally as killing as the Red Hackle ; hooks, from No. 2 to 6 for stretchers,t and from 6 to 9 for drop-flies.f It is better dressed as a Palmer, * For an illustration of a Palmer, see figure 4 on plate of Trout-Flies, t For explanation of " stretcher" and " drop-fly" or " dropper," see article " The Whip," a few pages further on. TROUT PLY-FISHING. ' 315 the body of red or crimson mohair, wrapped with gold or silver thread ; hackle dyed crimson. It is seldom used as a drop-fly. The Brown Hackle is scarcely inferior to the Eed. I have used it with great satisfaction on the subsiding of a freshet, when the water had become rather bright for the Red Hackle, on the same sized hooks, and especially as a stretcher, from 9 A. M. to 4 p. M. The hackle of most appropriate color for this fly is not easily obtained. I have sometimes found it on the necks of capons, which are brought to our market picked, with the exception of the neck and head. What is termed a furnace-hackle is frequently used in tying this fly, for a cock with brown hackles on his tail-coverts is seldom found. I invariably dress the body of the Brown Hackle with the darkest copper-colored peacock's hurl, the tail tipped with gold tinsel. The Ginger Hackle. — The hackle used for this fly is a yellowish or a very pale red ; it is frequently taken from the neck of a cock whose tail-coverts are of a tint deep enough for the Red Hackle. The Ginger Plackle is better 1ised as a drop-fly than as a stretcher ; the body should be of dubbing of the same color as the hackle, and wrapped with silver thread if it is used for a stretcher. When it is used for a dropper, the body may be of orange or lemon colored floss silk ; the latter tint is preferable towards sundown. The hook used should not be larger than No. 7 ; No. 9 or 10 is not tC'O small on still, smooth water. Where the hackle is very pale, this fly will kill as long as you can see it on the water. It is sometimes dressed Palmer fashion, though I do not like it so well as when it is tied simply as a Hackle. I generally tie it — as I do most Hackles — on a Kirby hook, on account of its superior hooking qualities. Black Hackles are better for drop-flies. As they are used 316 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. chiefly on fine water, or on bright days, or at midday, they should be dressed on small hooks, say from 8 to 10 or even 12 (Kirby). I prefer the bodies of copper- colored peacock hurl, though black mohair is generally used. The bodies of this fly are also made of orange and red floss silk ; they are sometimes dressed as Palmers, and ribbed with silver or gold thread or tinsel, or with coarse red or orange silk. A Grizzly HackU is a good drop-fly on a bright day towards noon ; it is best on a body of black floss or mohair. The hackle for this fly is a mixture of black and white — the darker the better. It is obtained mostly from the neck of the cock. It is good on bright water, and more appropriate for a dropper. A pale yellow mottled, or harred Hachle, with light yellow silk body, is a good evening fly. I sometimes tie it on a No. 10 or 12 Kirby hook. It comes into play with great effect, with the Yellow Sally at sundown, and as late in the evening as Trout will rise. A White Hackle, with white or very pah yellow body, it is thought by many, will kill later in the evening than any other fly, though I think it not superior to the pale yellow mottled hackle just described. The Dotterel is one of the flies described by Hofland — "body of yellow silk, legs and wings from the feather of a dotterel." This feather is not known to American anglers ; my imitations are made from the light barred feather of the partridge or snipe, and the body of light yellow floss silk. It is easily made, and on small Kirby hooks it is killing on well-shaded waters, especially towards sunset. The Grouse Hackle has a body of orange floss, or peacock hurl ; I prefer the latter. A suitable feather for this fly can be had from the wing-coverts and rump of our common TROUT FLY-FISHING. 317 prairie fowl ; a cock partridge's feather is still better ; a snipe's - or woodcock's will do. This is a good flj on clear water, as well as on a full stream ; if for the latter, it is better to have the body tipped with gold tinse] It is better used as a drop fly ; the hook should never be larger than No. 6 on full water, and 8 or 10 when it is fine. A light mottled lead-colored MackU may be made from the feather that hangs on either side of the rump of an English snipe; it is slightly barred. The body may be made of lead-colored floss, or a pale but distinct yellow ; it is a good drop-fly on hooks from No. 6 to 9. It is almost identical with the Dotterel. ^ The last seven of the aforementioned Hackles are better without having the bodies tipped with tinsel, and are good ones to induct the beginner in the art of tying his own flies. Most of them should be used exclusively as droppers. The Ked, Brown, Soldier, and Ginger Hackles are quite as suc- cessful as stretchers. The Ked Hackle, I am in the habit of dressing on hooks from No. 3 to 5, made of stout heavy- wire, so that it will sink somewhat below the surface of the water ; which mode of fishing I have frequently found necessary, especially after a freshet ; the Trout in the rifts appearing to take it as bait, carried along by the current beneath the surface, rather than as a fly. Winged Flies. — Of the great variety described in English books on fly-fishing, I place foremost of all, the Great Red Spinner, which Hofland says is made, ''body of hog's wool dyed red brown, ribbed with gold twist ; tail, two long whisks of red hackle ; wings from the feather of a star- ling's wing; legs, bright amber, stained hackle." This is the Red Spinner found in the tackle stores. As we have no starling with us, I generally make the wings of a brown mottled feather from the wing-covert of the mallard ; body 318 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. of red moliair. If there are Chub in the stream, and they are troublesome, I substitute a dubbing of bright orange, gene- rally of hog's down,*to avoid them, for red is very attractive to those pests. A Brown Spinner is made by using a brown mallard's feather for wings, brown mohair or hog's wool for body, and a brown hackle for legs. This is considered by many a better fly than the Red Spinner, and is used mostly as a stretcher. The same fly is sometimes made by picking out the hog's wool dubbing under the wings, to represent legs, instead of using a hackle for that purpose. The March Brown, and Cowdung, I have never taken a fancy to, nor the Stone Fly ; they are useless when one has a ^supply of Spinners in his book. There are several small flies with light yellow or slate bodies and lead- colored wings, described by Ronalds, which resemble each other closely ; they are good for the evening, or on well-shaded waters at midday. These are the Gockwing, Golden Dun Midge, Yellow Dun, Skyhlue, Whirling Blue Dun, and Little Pale Blue Dun. T^one of them should be on hooks larger than No. 7. The Iron Blue Dun is used with effect at almost any time of day. It is preferable as a drop-fly. The Qrannom has a body of hare's fur ; wings of a partridge feather, made full ; legs of a pale ginger hackle, and a short tuft of green floss silk at the tail, to represent the bag of eggs which this insect carries at the extremity of its body. In this country, the Grannom is found on the water towards the latter part of June, mostly towards sundown ; this imitation of it is a killing fly as a stretcher on a No. 8 hook. The Jenny Spinner (this is a Hackle). — I have seen this diminutive fly used with great success as a dropper, on the same whip with the Grannom ; body, white floss silk, wound TROUT FLY-FISHING. 3I9 with a light dun hackle, or a dirty white hackle will answer in the absence of the former ; the head and tail of brown silk ; hooks No. 9 or 10. The Black Onat is a small fly, and a pretty good imitation of a gnat ; it is best on bright waters after ten o'clock ; hooks 8 to 10. The Yellow Sally has yellow wings, body, and legs ; some- times it is tied as a hackle. It is a good fly at sundown, and as long as the angler can see where it falls on the water. The Fern-Fly is attractive, with its bright orange body and lead-colored wings. The Alder- Fly. — Next to the Red and Brown Spinners, this is the best stretcher-fly on Hofland's list. I have used two of them on fine low water at the same time, with great effect, one for dropper and the other for stretcher. The body of this fly 'should be made of copper-colored peacock's hurl, and the wings of a feather from a brown mallard, or brown hen". This fly can be varied by having a black mohair body, picked out near the head to represent the legs, as in the Brown Spinner. May Flies (the Green and the Gray Drake are the chief representatives), as killing as they may be on English waters, are seldom used successfully in this country. The Mackerel-Fly is supplanted by the Brown Spinner. A Fancy Fly, with red or brown hog's wool for body, picked out beneath near the head, for legs ; a dark brown mallard or hen's feather, with a few fibres from the feather of the scarlet ibis and green parrot thrown in for wings ; a tail of two fibres of a red macaw or ibis feather, and the end of the body tipped with tinsel, is sometimes a good stretcher. I have used it successfully on the rifts of the Beaverkill, in Sullivan County, N. Y.; it also does well on the still waters of the Adirondacks. The hook should be No. 2 or 3. 320 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, The Scarlet Ibis, as much as it is lauded by some, I have never had much success, with, except for those splendid Canadian fish known as Sea Trout. With a red or bright yellow body ribbed with gold twist, it is very killing in angling for them. The Governor, though a beautiful fly, I have not tried successfully. It closely resembles the Fern-Fly. The fly-fisher who keeps a varied assortment should not be without a few small dark Camlet-Flies. The Irish fly-makers excel in these. I have found, however, that small dark Hackles, and the Alder-Fly, when tied on a No. 10 hook, with wings from a dark mottled brown hen, to raise Trout when anything artificial could induce them to come to the surface. At the Sault Ste. Marie, and on the lakes of Maine, and on some of the rivers about Lake Superior, small Salmon-flies are more killing than Trout-flies ; hooks smaller than No. 2 (Trout) are seldom used there. After having gone into a somewhat lengthy description of the flies I have found to take well, I will refer to a few which I tie for my own fishing, and with slight variation of color and size, I find them ample for all seasons, weather, and water. I do not pretend to say that other flies may not be as killing on the whip of other anglers, but the constant use of these for the last five or six summers, has given me (it may be) a kind of blind faith in them, which has led me to adopt them to the exclusion of nearly all others. Of winged flies I use only the Brown Men and the Coach- man; of Hackles, only a brown, a black, and a ginger. There is no variation in the bodies of my Coachmen ; they are always of copper- colored peacock's hurl, tipped with tin- sel, the legs invariably of red hackle. The wings are of four tints : first, white ; second, a light lead color, generally from a tame pigeon ; third, a shade of lead color rather darker — a TROUT FLY-FISHING. 321 gull's feather is very appropriate ; fourth, a decided lead color — say from a blue heron. I tie those intended for droppers on hooks from No. 6 to 10 ; for stretchers, I use Nos. 2, 4, and 6, and in fishing with them, vary the color of wings and size of hooks according to the weather (bright or cloudy), the water (full or fine), and the time of day. The white wings are best when the water is full and the sky overcast, or late in the afternoon. The Brown Hen I tie without varying the colors : body of copper-colored peacock's hurl, tipped with gold tinsel ; legs of dark brown hackle ; wings from a dark brown hen's feather, mottled or speckled with yellow at the outer ends of the fibres. This feather, which I have mentioned so often, is taken mostly from hens known as the "golden pheasant breed," and is not generally appreciated by professional fly- makers. On a No. 8 hook for a stretcher, this fly kills splendidly on fine still water, and on a bright day. I generally use with it, a brown or black Hackle on a No. 10 hook, as dropper. A Q-inger Hackle, with a light yellow body, is my favorite evening fly. Any of these flies are tied to order, and by the angler'^-- own pattern, if he wishes it, by Mr. George, at Philip Wilson's gun and tackle store in Chestnut above Fourth street, or hy Mr. Jackson, in Gold below Dock street, or John Worden, at Krider's, corner of Second and Walnut streets, Philadelphia. The Whip. — The leader, with its flies attached, is generally termed the Whip, the neatness and proper arrangement of which is of much importance. The fly at the end is called the Stretcher, Drag-Fly, or Tail-Fly. Those above are the Drop Flies. Sometimes they are termed " Bobbers" or " Droppers." The stretcher, as a general rule, should be larger than the 21 322 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK drop-fly ; the greater size and weiglit being at the end of the leader, enables the angler to cast further, and with more pre- cision. And the consequent greater resistance in drawing it over the surface, keeps the leader taut and the dropper more at right angles with it, than if the reverse was the rule. The distance between the stretcher and drop-fly should be proportioned to the general length of the cast. In fishing where it is more convenient to cast a short line — say of eighteen or twenty feet — the flies should not be more than thirty inches apart. This distance between the flies is more suitable to the beginner ; but as practice enables him to throw a longer line, the dropper may be moved further up the leader, until four, or even four and a half, feet may intervene. The stretcher should be tied to the end of the leader by the common water-knot, which is illustrated on page 409, and the dropper fastened, as shown by figure 3, on the same diagram. The pieces of gut on which droppers are dressed, should be stifi*, and not more than five or six inches in length. If the angler fishes with two drop-flies (though more than one is seldom used), the upper should be twelve inches or so above the first dropper. The leader should not be more than three-fourths of the length of the rod, i. e., nine feet for a twelve-foot rod. With the beginner it should not exceed six feet, for a short line, if light at the end, is not as easily cast by the novice as a heavy one. A good large-sized hook also will make casting easier, in his first attempt. He should not commence with more than one dropper. Frank Forester recommends a leader of fifteen feet. This length would make it impossible for the angler to reel up his fish within reach of his landing-net, as the knot which fastens the line to the leader, and those by which the different gut- lengths are joined, would catch in the wire loop at the end of the tip, or in the rings, and, as a consequence, the fish could not be brought near enough to put the landing-net under it. CHAPTER XII. FLY-FISHING FOE TROUT. • I NEVER wander where the bordering reeds O'erlook the muddy stream, whose tangUng weeds Perplex the fisher ; I, nor choose to bear The thievish nightly net, nor barbed spear ; Nor drain I ponds, the golden Carp to take, Nor trowle for Pikes, dispeoplers of the lake. Around the steel no tortured worm shall twine, No blood of living insect stains my line ; Let me, less cruel, cast the feathered hook. With pliant rod, athwart the pebbled brook, Silent along the mazy margin stray. And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.*' Gat. CHAPTER XII. TROUT FLY-FISHING. — THE STREAM. Casting the Fly. — Theory of strict imitation. — Striking and killing a Fish. — Likely places, how to fish them. Casting the Fly. — So much has been written on this subject, that the learner who consults the authorities, not only finds that " doctors disagree," but that he is bewildered with what may appear to him unnecessary detail ; and he is thus impressed with an idea that Fly-Fishing is a science to be attained only with much study and practice. It would therefore be much better to learn the rudiments from some skilful friend on the stream, and afterwards read such autho- rities as Chitty, " Ephemera," and Eonalds. As it is likely, however, that some of my readers who may wish to try their hands, may not be able to avail themselves of the practical instruction of friends of experience, or may not have access to English authors on fly-fishing, I will, with some misgivings as to my ability to profit them, describe the usual manner of casting the fly, as practised by our best anglers. Advising the beginner not to be ambitious at first of accomplishing what he may deem a difficult feat, that is, to cast a long line, but rather by patience and diligence to acquire the knack of delivering one of moderate length straight out and lightly; by perseverance he will in due time find " how use doth breed a habit in a man." On a favorable day the learner, with faith and industry, (327) 328 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, and no preconceived notions of the difficulty of fly-fishing, may find at his nooning that he has made a catch which does not compare unfavorably with that of his more skilful brother. If the contrary be the case, let him not lose heart, as there may have been many circumstances against him ; as inexperience of the waters, the arrangement of his whip, landing his fish, &c., which he has yet to learn, and that it is not his casting which is altogether at fault. Some writers have objected to the accepted term " whip- ping," contending that casting the fly is different from whip- ping with a long staff and lash. I acknowledge that in the main it is. Still the first motions of the arm and rod are not unlike the motions of the arm and whip-staff' of a stage-driver. The latter intends that the end of his lash shall reach a certain part of the horse's body, while the angler intends that his flies shall fall on a certain part of the stream ; but here the similitude ends. The driver, by a sudden backward motion.^., of the arm, causes the lash to strike the horse with force, and rebound ; while the angler avoids the quick backward motion, and allows his flies to fall lightly ; and then, not hastily, but by a gentle movement of his rod, draws his flies towar 's him or across the water. But to commence. — Let the beginner draw out as much line as he can conveniently cast. If he uses a twelve foot rod, eighteen feet (that is, from the tip to the stretcher-fly) is enough. Then with a backward motion of his rod, let his line go well out behind him, and before it has time to fall to the ground, by a forward motion of the forearm and wrist, cast his flies to the desired place on the water. The hackivard motion of the line is chiefly imparte 1 by the spring of the rod, as the flies are lifted from the water, and if it does not go to its full length behind, it will come down clumsily on the water before the angler, when he casts TROUT FLY-FISHING. 329 it forward, and short of the place aimed at. The same bad effect is produced by using too much force. The beginner should bear in mind that it is not strength, but an easy sleight, and the spring of the rod, that effects the long and light cast. The arm should be extended slightly, and the motion imparted to the rod by the forearm working as on a pivot at the elbow, and the hand turning as on another pivot at the wrist. The motion of the hand and wrist only is required in a short, straight cast. . The angler should not cast at random over the water, but each portion of it should be carefully fished, the nearest first. He should always aim at some particular place ; he will soon learn to measure the distance with his eye, and exert the exact amount of force to propel his flies to the desired spot. In drawing them over the water, the primary object is to have the drop-fly to skim or dap along on the surface ; the stretcher which follows in its wake may be allowed to take care of itself, for, as a general thing, it matters little whether it is on or beneath the surface. When the flies first fall on the water, they should be al- lowed to rest a moment, and the slight motion imparted by tightening the line, or in recovering the full grasp of the rod on the instant, should be avoided. If in the current, they should be left for some moments to its will, then guided gently and sometimes with a tremulous motion across or diagonally up against it. After the learner (and he will always be learning) has acquired the first principles of the art, necessity, ingenuity, and observation will teach him how to cast in dif&cult places. Our streams and lakes are generally fished, the first by wading, the latter from a boat, and seldom from a high bank. It is therefore less necessary to cast a long line than many suppose, or English writers describe it to be. But our AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, rugged forest streams, overhung by bushes and branches of trees, and other obstructions occurring, make it requisite that the angler should acquire tact and skill, to meet these difficulties. In casting under branches which hang within a few feet of the water, the motion of the rod and course pursued by the line is necessarily horizontal. For instance, in wading down a stream, if you intend whipping under the branches on the right, a back-handed cast is necessary ; the backward pre- paratory motion of the rod being across the stream to your left, and the cast horizontally from the left to your right. When the branches you wish to cast under are on your left, the course of the line is vice versa, that is, from the right to the left. The largest Trout love the shade of trees and bushes which overhang the bank, and it is only by the means just described that you can present your flies. It is customary to fish down stream, and there is much difference of opinion as to whether the general rule should be to cast directly down or across the water. In this the angler must be governed much by cir- cumstances, and his own judgment. I prefer the diagonal cast, as presenting the flies in a more natural way, although the drop-fly may appear to play better, and set more at right angles with the leader, when drawing up against the stream. When the wind is blowing up the stream, it becomes in a good degree necessary to fish across, if possible casting below the desired spot, and allowing the wind to carry the flies to the right place as they fall on the water. If, however, it blows strongly in the direction of the cast, care should be taken when putting on a fresh fl}^ to moisten the gut to which it is attached, if it be a stretcher. Man}' flies are cracked off by neglecting this precaution. The advice of English writers to fish up stream, or with the TROUT FLY-FISHING. 33^ wind at one's back, in most cases cannot be followed; for our rough rapid streams in the first instance, and the thickly- wooded banks in the other, which make it necessary to wade, ignore both rules. The force of the current in many a good rift would bring the flies back, and, as I have seen with beginners, entangle them in the legs of his pantaloons. It is only in a still pool, or where the current is gentle, that one is able to fish up stream with any degree of precision. A word or two here about the flies coming down " Light as falls the flaky snow/' and that the flies only should touch the surface, or that they should touch it before the leader. The first idea is a very poetical one, and may be carried out in a good degree, if the line is light, the leader fine, and the cast not too long. The second is impracticable with a long line, unless from a bank somewhat elevated above the water. But in a day's fishing on our streams, the miraculous casting or falling of the flies, which some writers speak of, and their skill in this respect, are things we " read about." My experience is, that the falling of the leader — which is almost transparent when properly dyed — does not frighten the fish, but it is the incautious approach or conspicuous position of the angler. In casting over a piece of water, the flies always precede the leader and line, and, as a matter of course, fall where the fish lie before the line does, as the fisher advances or extends his cast. As the line will swag more or less in a long cast, it must necessarily touch the water. I would not give the impression from the foregoing that it is not necessary that the flies should fall lightly, for in fishing fine it is important that they should. To accomplish this, as I have already said, no sudden check should be given to the 332 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK flies, but ihej should be eased off (if I may so express it) as they fall, by the slightest downward bending of the wrist. There is a great deal of poetry also, as well as fiction, in the stories told about casting a very long line. Ex])erience will teach you to cast no longer line than is necessary, what- ever proficiency you may acquire. Still it should be borne in mind, that the higher your position above the water, the more visible you are to the fish, hence the greater the necessity for fishing far off when occupying such a stand. But with such elevation, it is easier to cast a long line. When a person is wading the stream, he is less visible to the fish than if he was on the bank, as the medium through which the line of sight passes is more dense than the atmo- sphere above, and the rougher the water the more the line of sight between the angler and the fish is disturbed. Nicer casting is, of course, required on a still pool than on a riffc; a careful angler, when he wades such water, will always go in softly, without floundering or splashing, fishing it by inches, scarcely making a ripple, and creating so slight a disturbance, that he will find the fish rising within a few yards of him ; then he should cast with not too long a line, and lightly. If he sees a large Trout rising lower down the pool, he does not fish carelessly, or hurry on to get to him, but tries to take those that may lie in the intervening water, and approaches him slowly and imperceptibly, knowing that he will be found there when his time comes. I may add here that in such water a landing-net is indispensable, as it would disturb the pool to wade ashore with every good fish, and that here also you have a better opportunity of using your net and securing your fish, than in a rift. In casting a long line, or even a short one, particularly on a windy day, it is better to wet it occasionally by holding the leader and flies in your hand, and let it swag in the water; TROUT FLY-FISHING. the weight of the line thus increased, helps the cast. If it could be accomplished, the great desideratum would be, to keep the line wet and the flies dry. I have seen anglers succeed so well in their efforts to do this by the means just mentioned, and by whipping the moisture from their flies, that the stretcher and dropper would fall so lightly, and remain so long on the surface, that a fish would rise and deliberately take the fly before it sank. One instance of this kind is fresh in my memory : it occurred at a pool beneath the fall of a dam on the Williwe- mock, at a low stage of water — none running over. The fish were shy and refused every fly I offered them, when my friend put on a Grannom. for a stretcher, and a minute Jenny Spinner for a dropper. His leader was of the finest gut and his flies fresh, and by cracking the moisture from them between each throw, he would lay them so lightly on the glassy surface, that a brace of Trout would take them at almost every cast, and before they sank or were drawn away. He had tied these flies and made his whip especially for his evening cast on this pool, and as the fish would not notice mine, I was obliged to content myself with landing his fish, which in a half hour counted several dozen. Here was an exemplification of the advantage of keeping one's flies dry, and the fallacy of the theory of not allowing the line to fall on the water, for in this instance I noticed that a fourth or a third of it touched the surface at every cast. It seems to me that there is no more appropriate place than this to say a few words about the " routine" and " strict imi- tation system," which some English writers advocate so strenuously. The former, that is, certain flies for certain months, or for each month, is now considered an exploded theory by practical anglers who wish to divest fly-fishing of all pedantic humbug ; for the fly that is good in April is 334 AMERICAN ANGLER'B BOOK. killing in August, and the Bed and Brown Hackle, the Coachman, Alder-Fly, and Brown Hen, will kill all summer. For the theory of " strict imitation," there is some show of reason, but I cannot concede that Trout will rise more readily at the artificial fly which most closely resembles the natural one, for the fish's attention is first attracted because of some- thing lifelike falling on the water, or passing over the surface, and he rises at it because he supposes it to be something he is in the habit of feeding upon, or because it resembles an insect or looks like a fly, not that it is any 'particular insect or fly ; for we sometimes see the most glaring cheat, which resembles nothing above the waters or beneath the waters, a piece of red flannel, for instance, or the fin of one of their own species, taken greedily. The last time I had positive proof of this was some years ago, when I happened to spend a quiet Sabbath in the "Beech Woods" of Pennsylvania, with a cheery Irishman who had made a clearing on the Big Equinunk. Towards noon I missed my creel, and on inquiring what had become of it, was told that the boys had gone a-fishing and taken it with them. In the afternoon they returned with the creel full of Trout, which far exceeded my catch of the day pre- vious. I asked them if they had taken them with worms — no ; with the fly — no, they had none ; and then I remembered the " dodge" I had practised myself in my early Trout-fishing days. They said they had "skittered" with the helly fin of the Trout. A worm to catch the first fish was the only bait they wanted, all the rest of the Trout were taken by drawing this rude counterfeit over the surface of the water. They did not know — happy little fellows — that their practice was in oppo- sition to the theory of learned professors, — liofland, Blaine, Shipley, Eonalds, and others. TROUT FLY-FISHING. 335 Striking and Killing a Fish. Striking. — Various direc- tions have been given about striking a fish when it rises at the fly. Some maintain that it is unnecessary, or even wrong, to strike at all, if the line is kept taut. Others say that you should strike as soon as you see the fish or the swirl he makes as he turns to go back. Either is wrong, if adopted as a rule without exceptions. In most cases when Trout rise freely, and are in earnest, they will hook themselves, for the yielding of a pliant rod, as a fish takes the fly, allows him to bear off his prize ; but when he attempts to cast it from his mouth, the spring of the rod fixes the hook in his mouth, as he relaxes his hold. So it frequently happens that the rise is seen and the strain on the rod is felt at the same moment. A fish may even miss the fly, and make another effort to seize it, if not drawn away too hastily. When a fish, therefore, takes the fly vigorously, it is only necessary to keep the line taut. A mere turn of the wrist may be given to fix the hook more firmly in his mouth. On the contrary, when the water is subsiding after a freshet, ) and the fish have been feeding on worms and insects which have been washed in, they will frequently tug at your^ stretcher, taking it for such food. Then it is necessary to strike sharply. I have sometimes fished all day in this way, allowing the stretcher (generally a red hackle) to sink a little, | and trolling as with a bait, and striking when I felt a bite. ' Again, on warm days, when Trout lie beneath the shade of trees which stretch their branches over deep still pools, they i will rise almost without ruffling the surface, or softly arrest ' the stretcher beneath, as if to ascertain if it is really some- thing to eat ; then a slight but quick stroke is necessary to / secure the fish before he casts it from his mouth. Killing a Fish. — Many Trout are lost by the beginner, 336 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, from excitement or a lack of judgment in managing them. It is always tlie safei* plan to handle a fisli as if lie was slightly hooked, and in fishing a rift, to get him out of the rough water and towards the margin where it is comparatively still, as soon as possible. For in his eftbrts to escape, you have the force of the current, as well as his strength and agility, to contend with. If the water is still, and the fish indisposed to show fight, tow him gently to one side and then to the other, as you reel in the line. If there is a sloping shore without obstructions, and you think he is securely hooked, you may sometimes get a little headway on him, and, by a steady pull, lead him ashore before he overcomes his astonishment at being hooked, or has realized his danger. If in landing a fish in this way, though, you allow him to come in contact with a stone or other impediment, it will arouse all his fears, and in his desperation he may tear loose. When a fish of unusual size is hooked, and yoa can do so without disturbing the lower end of the rift or pool, it is safer to lead him down stream, for this increases the difficulty of his breathing, while you are assisted by the current, and the strain on your tackle is diminished. English writers direct us, after hooking a fish, to keep the rod in a perpendicular position, or the point well back over the shoulder ; this is very well if he is securely hooked and swims deep. If he struggles and flounders on the surface, though, the point should be immediately lowered, and the rod held nearly horizontally aeross the stream, giving him the whole spring of it, thus keeping him under. It is better not to raise his head above the water until he is somewhat ex- hausted, or until you are ready to slip the landing-net under him. If your reel has a moderately stiff click, and the fish is large TROUT FLY-FISHING. 337 enough to run the line off, he should be allowed to do so, bearing on him with the line unchecked by the slightest pressure of the fingers. As he slacks in his resistance, reel in the line, giving when you must and shortening when you can, "butting him,'' as some persons call it, or bearing hard, only when he approaches some dangerous place, and leading him away from it. After you have ventured to raise his head above water, give to any strong effort he may make to get beneath, or to his humor to take another run, but bearing on him all the while with a taut line. When you can ven- ture to bring him near, reel in until the end of the leader, where it joins the line, has reached the end of the tip ; he is then, if the leader is three-fourths the length of the rod, and the rod pliant, close enough to slip your net under him. This should be done not with a swoop, but gently ; seize him with the left hand, sticking your thumb under his gill, and taking the hook out of his mouth put him tail-foremost into the hole of your creel. "^^ — ^ ^^70^*t''i-<-'^-:HSL-^ and change them for smaller ones of different colors, and after a little while " try back," that is, fish from the lower to the upper end. Different flies cast from another direction will / sometimes induce fish to " reconsider the motion," and adopt / your amendment if properly presented. When the season is well advanced — say July or August, Trout will assemble in pairs or little communities in some suitable place for spawning, and remain there if there is no excessive rise in the stream, until it is time to spawn. This is frequently beneath the overhanging alders; there chiuck your flies under, if you cannot present theni more civilly, and if you take a good fish, try again, for the rest are likely to be as hungry. If the sun be bright, use the Alder-fly on such occasions, for either dropper or stretcher, or both. The same kind of a shallow side-rift is a likely place early in June when the Suckers congregate there to spawn, and the Trout are on the lookout a few yards below, to catch their roe as it is carried down stream by the current. Immediately below a mill-dam, if there be any depth of water, is invariably a good place; but you should never stand conspicuously above on what is called " the breast" of the dam, or on a high rock ; such a position is to be con- demned even in a bait-fisher ; but get below, and if there is no way of fishing from the sides, go to the tail of the pool, and cast upwards. This, if there be but little water coming over the dam, is the best place to fish from. Trout will not take the fly immediately under the fall or in the foam, but a little below. In a deep still pool much exposed to the sun, if there is a 340 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. tj-ee or two on the bank witli drooping boughs, Trout are apt to collect there, for they love the shade. Here, if the weather is warm, they are not apt to rise with a splash, as I have just remarked, but will suck in your fly with a mere dimp- ling of the water, or you may have a vague sense of its being arrested beneath the surface. Then strike sharply, but do not be violent, and you have him ; try again, there are more there^ and good ones. Never pass a piece of still water of reasonable depth where a fresh spring brook, however diminutive, comes in, particu- larly in warm weather. I have in my memory such a pool bordered on one side with hair-grass and duck-weed, which I had frequently passed heedlessly by, supposing it to be back- water from the main stream, or left in the old bed of the creek, from the overflow of the spring freshets. But one day, seeing a quiet dimpling of the surface, I waded lazily in, and threw my flies carelessly on the water, when a thirteen-incher laid hold, and was away in the duck -weed before I recovered from my astonishment. After many turns, however, and much contention, the pliant little rod exhausted him. Thus encouraged, I fished the shaded pool its whole length as noise- lessly as an otter, and the result was a dozen very handsome Trout. I never passed that pool again without giving it the attention it merited. Sometimes on the subsiding of a freshet, Trout will sur- mount a long rapid, and rest in a pool, or the smooth flow of water above, where it is not a half yard in depth. Fish such water with as long a cast as possible, and so as not to throw your shadow over the swim. A brisk clattering little brook, as it rushes along over rocks and logs, through the woods, washes otit many a pretty hole in its sharp turns, and amongst the big stones, where the laurel and alders render casting impossible. The only way TROUT FLY-FISHING. 341 here is, let the current carry your flies down stream, until the dropper bobs enticingly on the water. Play them on each side of the little rift, drawing them towards you and allowing them to drift off again. If there are fish in the hole they will be jumping at the dropper, or tugging at the stretcher. Three to one they will hook themselves ; if they don't, strike gently at each tug or jump, as if you were fishing with a bait, but not drawing your flies entirely from the water. I have taken good fish in the small tributaries of a larger stream in this way, the monarch of the rift always first, and his succes- sors in order, according to size. The head of a mill-dam, where a rapid meets the back-water, is invariably a good place. I have already said or intimated, that on a bright day Trout will always rise better in the shade. Therefore when a pool is of equal depth across, one side of it may be better in the morning, and the other side in the afternoon. There are many good pools also which are not shaded on either side, or where persons pass frequently, or show themselves to the fish ; here they scarcely rise until after sundown. Such places are often fished without success by an angler, and in a very short time one who follows him may have good sport. The largest fish are nearly always taken after the sun is down, or at least off the water. But of all places commend me in the still of the even- ing, to the long placid pool, shallow on one side, with deeper water and an abrupt overhanging bank opposite. Where the sun has shone all day, and legions of ephemera sported in its declining rays ; the bloom of the rye or clover scenting the air from the adjoining field ! Now light a fresh pipe, and put on a pale Ginger Hackle for your tail-fly, and a little white- winged Coachman for your dropper. Then wade in cautiously — move like a shadow — don't make a ripple. 342 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK Cast, slowly, long, light ; let your stretcher sink a little. There he has taken the Ginger — lead him around gently to the shallow side as you reel him in, but don't move from your position — let him tug awhile, put your net under him, break his neck, and slip him into your creel. Draw your line through the rings — cast again ; another, and another. Keep on until you can see only the ripple made by your fly ; or know when it falls, by the slight tremor it imparts through the whole line down to your hand — until the whip-poor-will begins his evening song, and the little water -frog tweets in the grass close by. — Not till then is it time to go home. If you have dined on the stream, it may be. that the Trout you roasted were too highly seasoned and you are thirsty ; if so, stop at the old spring by the roadside. CHAPTER XIII. SALMON-FISHING, I LOVE to Bee a man forget His blood is growing cold, And leap, or swim, or gather flowers, Oblivious of his gold, And mix with children in their sport, Nor think that he is old. ' I love to see a man of care Take pleasure in a toy ; I love to see him row or ride, And tread the grass with joy, Or throw the circling Salmon-fly As lusty as a boy. ' The road of life is hard enough, Bestrewn with slag and thorn ; I would not mock the simplest joy That made it less forlorn, But fill its evening path with flowers, As fresh as those of morn." CHAPTER XIII. SALMON-FISHING. Tackle used in Salmon-Fishing. Rods. — Reels. — Reel-lines. — Casting- lines. — Salmon-flies. — Materials required for Salmon-flies for American rivers. — Salmon-Flies for the rivers of New Brunswick and Canada. — Theory and practice of Salmon-fishing. — Salmon-fishing compared with Trout-fishing. — Casting the fly. — The straight-forward cast, casting over the left shoulder, casting in difficult places, explained by diagrams. — Casting in an unfavorable wind. — Striking. — Playing a Salmon. — What a Salmon will do or may do. — Gaffing. Camping on the River. Camp equipage. — Protection against mos- quitoes, black-flies, and midges. — Clothing, &c. — Cooking utensils. — Stores. Cooking Salmon on the river. — To boil a Salmon. — To broil a Salmon. — Cold Salmon. — Soused Salmon. — To bake or steam a Grilse under the coals and ashes. — Kippered Salmon. — Smoked Salmon. — Law and Custom on the river. i TACKLE FOR SALMON-FISHING. Rods. — A Salmon-rod should be of the toughest and most springy wood that can be procured. It should taper so truly, that its elasticity, or rather its tendency to bend, will be dis- tributed over its whole length, though in a diminishing ratio — from the point of the tip to the place where it is grasped above the reel. In a rod of true proportions, the greater the power applied or the weight it has to bear, the nearer will the apex of the curve caused by lifting the weight approach (345) 346 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK the butt, and, as a consequence, the more the upper part will be relieved of the strain. To demonstrate this theorem, let any person who is curious on the subject, place a two or four ounce weight in his tobacco- pouch, and suspend it to the end of his line, after passing the line through the rings of a well-proportioned Salmou-rod, and he will find that the tip will bend, while the lower part of the rod will remain comparatively straight. Let him increase the weight to eight ounces, and the curve will be transferred to the next joint below, the tip assuming more the direction of a straight line. Then, by increasing the weight succes- sively to twelve and sixteen ounces, he will find that there is little or no curve in the tip, the additional weight having drawn it nearly or quite straight, and transferred the trans- verse strain proportionately towards the lower part of the rod, where it is strong. A rod of sixteen feet, which I deem sufficiently long, need not weigh over two pounds two ounces ; and one of seventeen feet should not exceed two pounds six ounces. Of the two, I prefer the smaller, on account of the ease in casting with it, for it is no boy's play to wield a heavy Salmon-rod for liours. The smaller has power enough to kill any Salmon. The dimensions of such a rod, if in four pieces of equal length — measuring, the diameter of the inside or " male" ferules as they come in order from the butt outward — should be eleven, eight, and five-sixteenths of an inch, and the diameter of the butt half way between the ferule and lower end, seven-eighths of an inch ; the thickest part, where the reel-band is placed, say nine inches above the end, should be an inch and five- sixteenths. A seventeen-foot rod — supposing the butt and second joint each to -be four feet six inches long, and the third joint and tip four feet — should have the two upper ferules the same SALMON-FISHING. 347 size as the smaller rod, and the lower ferule the sixteenth of an inch larger. The butt should be of the best coarse-grained white ash ; the second joint of hickory or iron wood ; the third of lance or ironwood ; and the tip of the best Malacca cane, rent and glued. The strain on a tip caused by the oft- repeated lifting of a long line from the water, makes it neces- sary that it should be of material of the closest and hardest fibre ; for the weight of the line is not sufficient to throw the strain on the lower portion of the rod, as in killing a fish ; but the constant lifting of the line from the water preparatory to casting it, gives the top a downward swag in a week or two, which makes it necessary that the angler should provide himself with one or two extra tips. The advice of English authors, to have the rod-rings very large, that the line may pass through freely, shows a want of proper consideration ; for if there should be a knot or kink in the line, it would be certain to catch in passing through the wire loop at the end of the tip. The large size of the rings, therefore, would not provide for the contingency, while they are awkward and rattle in the wind, augmenting the resistance to the air in casting, and increasing the leverage on the rod when killing a Salmon. In making a couple of Salmon-rods for my own use, I went in direct opposition to this antiquated notion, and put on metallic guides like those on American bass rods, but lighter, and find them far preferable to rings. In fastening on the reel I use but one reel-band, which is stationary ; under this I slip one end of the brass plate to which the reel is fastened, and secure the other end with a string, so as to avoid the contingency of the sliding- baud becoming tight by the expansion of the butt of the rod from moisture, as already explained in my remarks on Trout- rods. 348 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. Keels. — A Salmon-reel should be large enough to contain a hundred yards of line without filling the spool so full that it will clog. A simple reel is to be preferred to a multiplier, for several reasons ; an important one is that it is less apt to get out of order from the rough usage to which it is some- times subjected. One with the outer plates about three and three-quarters inches in diameter, and an inch and a half between the plates, is large enough. The click or bearing, which is arranged between one of the inner plates and the small outer plate next to it, should offer resistance enough to require about six ounces to draw the line from the reel. Of course there is an additional friction when the line passes through the rings of the rod and out through the tip ; and this is all the bearing that is required or safe to offer in con- trolling a Salmon, even when you are butting him to press him from a dangerous place, or towards the gaff as he becomes exhausted. The best Salmon-reels have a smooth conical crank fastened in an outer plate, which revolves against the SALMON. FISHING. 349 oue next to the spool, the object being to prevent the line becoming entangled in the handle, which is apt to occur in one of the ordinary kind. The best reels of this kind I have ever met with, are those made by Farlow, of London. The figure on the opposite page gives a perspective view of one. Reel-Lines. — Those made of plaited silk, and prepared in linseed- oil, notwithstanding the original cost, are to be pre- ferred to all others. Those of silk and hair are liable to rot when exposed to the dew, if they are left out at night, or when they are wound up wet and allowed to remain so. With care, an oiled silk line will last three or four years. After fishing, as much of it as has been wet should be drawn off the reel, and coiled or wound in such a manner as to dry. When one end of an oiled line becomes soft from casting and passing through the rings of the rod after a summer's fishing, it may be taken off the reel, and the end which has been used wound next to the axle, the stiff fresh end being outwards, next to the casting line. An unoiled plaited-silk line can be bought for half the price of an oiled one, and the angler can prepare it himself by the recipe, found in the note below, which I copy from Chitty.* I found, however, that the last * *' To a quarter of a pint of ' doubled-boiled cold-drawn' linseed-oil, add about one ounce of gold-size. Gently warm and mix them well, being first careful to have the line quite dry. While the mixture is warm, soak it therein until it is fully saturated to its very centre ; say for twenty-four hours. Then pass it through a piece of flannel, pressing it sufficiently to take off the superficial coat, which enables that which is in the interior to dry well, and, in time, to get stiff. The line must then be hung up in the air, wmd, or sun, out of the reach of moisture, for about a fortnight, till pretty well dry. It must then be redipped to give an outer coat, for which less soaking is necessary : after this, wipe it again, but lightly ; wind it on a chair-back or towel-horse, before a hot fire, and there let it remain for two or three hours, which will cause the mixture on it to 'flow' (as 350 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. drying requires three or four times as long as the time he mentions. The gohl-size mentioned in the note can be had of those who sell painters' materials ; I have bought it of Mr. C. Shrack, in Fourth street above Cherry, Philadelphia. Casting-Lines should be of treble twisted gut, for the three gut-lengths next to the reel -line ; the next two or three lengths should be of double twisted gut, and the remainder of stout single gut, each length finer than the preceding one as it nears the end. Single gut is strong enough to hold any Salmon if properly handled, but the treble and double lengths and then the single length, graduate the line to a proper taper, thus increasing the ease and lightness in throwing the fly. When the water is discolored after a rise in the river, a casting-line of ten feet is long enough. As the water becomes clearer, the length should be gradually increased by adding lengths of single gut at the lower end, until it is nearly or quite as long as the rod. By doing so, one can cast a lighter line, and, of course, the probability of raising a Salmon will be greater than it would be by allowing the heavy reel line to fall or swing near the fish. Salmon-Flies. — There is an endless variety in the combi- nations and colors of the feathers, dubbing, and tinsel, that go to make up the Salmon-flies described in books and sold in tackle stores. Of the latter, many are made by persons who never saw a live Salmon, and are tied more to please the eye of the purchaser, than with any idea that they will entice japanners term it), and give an even gloss over the whole. It must then be left to dry as before : the length of time, as it depends on the weather and place, observation must determine upon. By this means it becomes impervious to wet and sufficiently stiff, never to clog or entangle — the oil producing the former quality, and the gold-size (which is insoluble in water) the latter ; while the commixture prevents the size becoming too hard and stiff." SALMON-FISHING. 35^ tlie fish. Notwithstanding the minute directions given for tying any particular fly, it must not be inferred that an imita- tion that lacks some of the tints, will not take fish. The main thing is to have the prevailing colors as near those of the fly described as possible ; if there is a slight difference in regard to the feathers that compose the wings or tail, when the exact feather cannot be had, it may still be a killing fly on the same kind of water, and on the same kind of a day, that the original is. Fresh-run Salmon are not over nice, and if the colors are at all suitable to the water, they will lay hold ; as to a certain fly being the fly for any water, to the exclu- sion of all others, it is sheer humbug. The first Salmon I ever killed was on a fly T tied before leaving home, from some idea I had of the water I was to fish, and from a general knowledge of the proper colors for Trout-flies. It was not intended as an imitation of any I had seen or read a descrip- tion of; and I continued to tie my own flies, and killed Salmon with them all summer, being guided in selecting the colors by the state of the water and the day, omitting the unimportant detail of a tag or feelers, and. frequently not putting on a collar when indolent, or pushed for time. Very few of the flies imported from England and Ireland are suitable for the rivers of New Brunswick, being generally too large and showy for those clear waters. The gaudy Irish flies tied for the Shannon would frighten the Salmon on this side of the Atlantic, while others would not be noticed by them. The profuse variety of beautiful but useless flies imposed on some of our verdant countrymen, with full pockets, by London and Dublin tackle-makers, is astonishing. An accomplished Salmon-fisher of St. John, with whom I had the pleasure of fishing for two weeks last summer, had only two standard flies for the Mirimichi and Nipissiguit ; one the " Blue-and-brown," the other the "Silver-gray ;" — the 352 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. latter for high water. The Blue-and-brown, by tying with darker-tinted hackles and bodies, as the water clears, he uses almost entirely. He told me he fished the Lakes of Killarney, and the clear rivers of Ireland, with the same flies in his boy- hood, and he still adheres to them : his favorite, the Blue-and- brown, has become so famous amongst the anglers of the province, that it has taken his name, the " Nicholson fly." Flies for American rivers — except when the water is dis- colored by a freshet — as a general rule, should be of darker and more sober tints than those used in Scotland and Ireland. The feathers to be preferred for wings, are taken from the wing-coverts of the male mallard, the tail of the wild turkey, and the second joint of the wing, and tail of a dark-brown mottled hen, or spruce grouse; the two last are for small flies, and will raise a Salmon on fine water when nothing else will. For full water, or when it is discolored, wood-duck and gray mallard are used, mixed occasionally with a few fibres of red ibis, or a single topping of golden pheasant. The bodies of those that have dark wings should be of red, brown, and purple dubbing, of different shades, varied occa- sionally with orange, yellow, and black, and wrapped with hackles of the same colors. Sometimes two hackles of differ- ent color, as red and blue, are used. The bodies and hackles of flies for high water should be of light colors to correspond with the wings : of these, pale yellow, pearl color, and light gray are most suitable. This limited assortment, of feathers for wings, and hackles and dubbing for bodies, is all that one requires on the rivers of New Brunswick. Add to these, black ostrich and copper- colored peacock hurl, for collars ; a dozen or so of golden pheasant breast-feathers for tails ; gold and silver tinsel — flat and twisted ; tying silk, wax, and a little varnish to put on SALMON-FISHING. 353 the heads to protect them, and the list of fly-materials for a trip is complete. Tying Salmon-flies is an art which is easily acquired by those who are at all proficient in making Trout-flies ; they hardly require as delicate manipulation. I saw some very rudimentary-looking flies tied by the natives about Bathurst, that were killing at the " Rough Waters" on the Nipissiguit, last summer. The annexed plate was drawn and engraved on wood, under my direction, by Mr. Wilhelm of this city. It repre- sents four flies ; the killing qualities of the first two I tested last summer. No. 1 represents the Brown Fly. It is a plain little fly, on a No. 9 ^ hook, and intended for low water. Wings of the dark mottled feather of a brown hen, or wild turkey's tail ; body of copper-colored peacock hurl (four plumelets twirled and twisted around the wrapping-silk to make it secure), wound with gold thread, and a dark brown or purple hackle, and tipped with gold tinsel ; tail a few sprigs of the same feather as the wings ; collar of black ostrich hurl. No. 2 represents the " Nicholson." Hook, No. 8. Wings of brown mallard; body of blood -red seal's fur, wrapped with gold tinsel, and a blue, and a blood-red hackle, and tipped with gold tinsel ; tail of mallard, and a few sprigs of golden pheasant breast-feathers ; collar, black ostrich hurl. The dubbing and hackle of this fly should be of deeper tint, as the water becomes clearer. The angler, whose name it bears, in tying it gives the tail and wings an upright set, which it retains to the last, giving it a peculiarly gay appear- N * The standard of sizes for hooks here mentioned, correspond with the numbers on the plate of Hooks, page 65. 23 354 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. ance, as the reader will observe. The figure is an exact drawing of one tied by Mr. N. himself. The Silver Gray, which Mr. N. ties on hooks No. 6 and 7, is intended for high water, or when it is discolored after a freshet. It has wings of gray mallard and a few sprigs of wood-duck ; body of lead or pearl-colored seal's wool mixed with a little yellow, and wound with silver tinsel and a gray or barred hackle ; tag and collar of ostrich hurl. It is not represented by either of the four figures, but in form resem- bles No. 2. Nos. 3 and 4 are exact copies of Nos. 11 and 12, found in the " Book of the Salmon." I have introduced them here to show what is meant by "feelers," and to explain what a " topping" is. The former are intended to represent the pair of long antennae found in a natural fly ; they are folded back- ward in the artificial fly, extending above and beyond the wings. The tail and upper portion of the wings of the third figure are ''toppings," that is, feathers from the crest of the golden pheasant. In addition to the flies I have described, there are several tied by John Chamberlain that are in great repute on the Nipissiguit. Amongst them is one which I will describe as the ''Chamberlain." In tying it (commencing at the bend of the hook) the body is first tipped with gold tinsel, the tail is then tied on, and the lower part of the body, say one-fourth of the way up, is wrapped with bright yellow floss, when a blood-red hackle, and purple or maroon- colored floss are fastened in, and the dark floss wrapped on for the remainder of the body, followed by the gold tinsel and the hackle (four turns are enough). Brown mallard or wild- turkey wings are then put on, and it is finished with a collar of black ostrich hurl. The first fly I tied of this kind, was according to SALMON- FISHING. 355 John's directions as he sat by. I have been quite successful with the " Chamberlain." Dr. Adamson, in ''Salmon-fishing in Canada," gives the following list of flies used on the rivers emptying into the St. Lawrence : — " The Louise is an extremely beautiful fly,., having the wings composed of fibres from the golden pheasant's topknot, breast -feather, and tail, with sprigs from the green parrot, blue macaw, and kingfisher; the body is of fiery brown mohair with gold twist ; the head of orange mohair ; the tail a single feather from the golden pheasant's topknot, reddish - brown hackle, and jay legs. '' The Edivin is a much more simple fly, and often equally efficacious amongst the fins, the wings being composed of the golden pheasant's tail-feather, with a dash of yellow macaw ; the body yellow mohair, ribs of black silk, head black mohair, tail golden pheasant topknot, hackle yellow, and scarlet silk tip. " The Forsyth. — Wings of yellow macaw with a slight dash of mallard wing at each side ; yellow mohair body with 'black ribs ; head black, tail golden pheasant topknot, hackle yellow, with light blue silk tip. " The Stevens. — Wings of golden pheasant breast-feather, with a slight mixture of mallard ; body of reddish brick- colored silk gold twist, head black ostrich; tail golden pheasant topknot ; hackle red to match the body, tip blue silk.' " The Boss. — Wings of mallard and peacock's hurl ; body cinnamon-colored silk gold twist ; no head ; tail, green parrot, red and black hackles, aad black tip. " The Parson. — This is a beautiful and efficient fly. The wings are mixed, and very similar to those of the Louise, but have a slight mixture of wood-duck in them ; the body is 366 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK of very dark claret silk with gold twist ; head black ostrich ; tail golden pheasant topknot, hackle dark claret ; legs blue, with a tip of 3^ellow and gold. " The Strachan. — Mixed wing chiefly of golden pheasant tail, yellow macaw, and jay's wing; body of crimson silk with gold twist ; head black ostrich ; tail golden pheasant '■> black hackle with jay's wing ; legs tip yellow and gold. " The Langevin. — Wings, body, tail, hackle, legs, tip all yellow ; made of the dyed feathers of the white goose ; the head of black ostrich, and the twist of black silk." Casting the Fly. — As bait-fishing or trolling can scarcely be called a sportsmanlike way of killing Salmon, I shall confine my observations to angling for them only with the artificial fly. In my remarks on Trout-fishing I have alluded to the im- possibility of learning how to cast the fly well from written directions alone. One may get the theory ever so well in his head — and good theory too — when he comes to try his hand, however, there are so many things he must remember to do just at the nick of time, and so many contingencies which he did not look for, constantly arising, that he will likely recollect no more of the lessons he has learned from books than some general directions, and will depend rather on his own judgment and native aptness. This is more the case in Salmon-fishing even than in casting the fly for Trout. I do not mean to convey the idea that the written directions are useless ; on the contrary, they are of much service when combined with some practical knowledge of the art. It would, therefore, be well for the beginner to learn all he can from books, and not discard his theory entirely, if not approved of by anglers, whose instruction he may have the benefit of on the river. A little experience will show him that he may combine the teachings of the two, and profit by both. SALMON-FISHING. 357 Although I had been a Trout fly -fisher for a quarter of a century and had gained, as I thought, much knowledge from Chitty, Scrope, and "Ephemera" (and there is no better authority than the last), I must confess that I received more instruction last summer in a few days from the hints and suggestions of John Chamberlain, an unlettered canoe -man, than I had from books in many years ; though still adhering to the teachings of "Ephemera" in opposition to John, on points which were in accordance with my own notions. I have heard anglers say that Salmon-fishing is only Trout-fishing on a grand scale. There is much truth in the remark, for a person who can cast well for Trout, will soon acquire the knack of throwing the fly for Salmon. But in several important points there is a difference, for Salmon do not often lie in that part of a pool where the angler would look for Trout. He moreover fishes for Salmon with only one fly, and displays it differently — mostly beneath the surface. I offer these hints not with a view of enlightening Salmon- fishers of experience, but with the hope that they may be of some service to beginners who have not access to the authors I have mentioned, or who may not fall into as good hands in their first attempts as I did. A few words in the first place as to holding the rod. — A right-handed man will naturally grasp it with the right hand above the reel, and with his left hand below at the end of the butt ; and will throw from over the right shoulder. The left- handed man will do the reverse, that is, grasp with his left hand above the reel and cast from the left shoulder. A right- handed man will advance his right foot in casting, and a left- handed man his left foot. Supposing then that the great majority of men are right-handed, I will shape my hints accordingly. The first thing is to get out as much line as one intends 358 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. making his first cast with ; this is done as in Trout-fishing. To describe it, we will suppose that the angler approaches the stream, the hook clasping one of the bars of the reel (the usual way of carrying it), his line consequently (or as much as has passed through the rings) the same length as his rod, or nearly so. He disengages his fly, throws it on the water, and draws a few feet of line off the reel ; the line falling in a loop between the reel and the ring next above it. Now by switching his rod to the right or left — his fly dragging the mean time in the water — the slack line which hangs in a loop is pulled through the rings, and out at the end of the tip ; lengthening the line, by so much. This is repeated until he has drawn the point of the rod around so far to one side that he is obliged to lift the line from the water and throw it further out, in order to continue the operation. Thus by pulling the line from the reel, and consecutively switching the rod, the required length is obtained. Of course this pre- liminary operation is not done in the direction in which the fish are supposed to lie. Now, with a smart spring of the rod, the angler lifts his fly from the water to make the first cast, and directs its course backwards over his right shoulder until he thinks it luis nearly reached the distance the line will allow it to go behind him ; then with a steady forward motion, succeeded by a switch of the rod, he sends it on its errand across the smoothly- gliding water, that it may float or swing over the current and entice the silver-sided Salmon with its sheen and life-like look. In this plain, straightforward throw, the top of the rod describes nearly an arc in its backward course, and the chord of the same arc in its forward course ; in other words, the backward course is a curve, and the forward a straight line. The left figure of the cut on page 62, gives a bird's-eye SALMON-FISHING. 359 Tiew of the line the point of the rod describes ; the dotted line is the course the fly takes, O the place where the angler stands, and the large arrow the course of the river. It is hard to fix the exact time that the particular spring which sends the fly far and straight, is imparted to the rod ; it is somewhere about the time it is vertical, or perhaps just before that time, in its forward movement. A person, though, as he acquires the knack of casting, will find it out, though he may not be able to describe it. As in Trout-fishing, the learner is apt to labor hard in casting, using much more force than is required, until he gets the habit of making the rod perform neatly, what he, by mere physical effort, would do clumsily. Another thing that he has learned in Trout-fishing will also be of service to him ; it is that lowering of the point of the rod the least hit, by the mere downward bending of the wrist of his right hand, as the fly reaches its destination, (Causing it to fall lightly on the water, instead of striking it with a splash. There is a way of sending the fly straight out, as if aiming at something above the surface, say on a level with one's shoulder, and easing it off in the manner just described, which is the per- fection of casting. It requires much practice to acquire it. The manner of getting more line out as one successively increases the length of his cast, is by drawing a few feet from the reel before raising his fly from the water, and as the rod is drawn backward, the slack goes out through the wire loop at the end of the tip. The ■ fly is generally cast directly or obliquely across the stream, the current, or a proper inclination of the rod, or the two combined, bringing it over the place where the fish lie. After the fly has fallen on the water, it is acted upon by two opposing forces — the tendency of the current to take it down stream, and the raising of the point of the rod to restrain or 360 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, direct it ; the result is, that the fly swings across the stream towards the side on which the angler stands, describing in its course the segment of a circle, and sweeping along in front of the fish. By increasing the length of the cast directly or obliquely across, as just described, the radius is lengthened, and the segment enlarged and of course extended down stream, as well as across. In this manner, that portion of the pool within reach of the angler is gradually covered ; then, by advancing a step at a time, or by short successive pushes of the canoe, he fishes the whole of it, or as much as can be covered from the side he is on. The fibres of the feathers of which the fly is composed, are made to contract and expand as it passes through the water, by the least possible raising and dropping of the point of the rod, in order to show the fly attractively. This, however, cannot be done effectually, if the current is so strong as to press the fibres continually against the body of the fly, not allowing them to open when the top of the rod is lowered. The general rule laid doAvn by " Ephemera," in his Book of the Salmon, for fishing a pool " upwards in the direction of its source," appears to me entirely wrong. It is impracti- cable on many American rivers, from the rapidity of the cur- rent. He ignores his own rule, however, in a remark on a preceding page of his book, when speaking of the motion to be given to the fly in drawing it through the water. He says, "the Salmon-fly is always to be worked or humored against the current, never with it." How the angler is to humor the fly against the current, when drawing it with the current, I leave him to find out. As to fishing up stream, it may do where the current is slight, but in swift water it should only be when there is no cast but from the lower end of the pool. SALMON-FISHING. 361 The Left-Shouldered Cast. — It frequently occurs, in fishing down either side of a river, that an abrupt bank rises immediately at the angler's back. If on the right side of the river, such an obstruction makes it necessary to cast from over the left shoulder ; for in making the ordinary right-shouldered cast, the high bank would prevent the backward motion of the rod and the backward sweep of the line. In casting from over the left shoulder, it is not necessary, as "Ephemera" directs, to shift one's hands ; that is, to grasp the rod above above the reel with the left, and the end of the butt with the right hand, and make an awkward attempt, for the time, to become a left-handed man. A much easier plan is not to shift the hands at all, but, keeping them as they are, to bring the line backward over the left shoulder, and cast from the left side. This way of casting, though it may appear awkward at first, will become quite easy after a little practice, especially to one who is used to whipping over the left shoulder for Trout. The middle figure of the diagram on the next page shows the line described by the top of the rod in the left- shouldered cast; the dotted line represents the course of the fly ; 0 is the stand of the angler. A greater difficulty than that just described is to be over- come, when one wishes to cast directly across the stream, and a precipitous bank or cliff rises immediately behind his back, and, it may be, also on his left hand. In this case he has first to get his fly out, down stream; the current will assist him somewhat. Then , lifting it with a smart twitch of the rod, he brings it back (but not too far) over the left shoulder, and suddenly facing the desired spot, casts with a short abrupt spring of the rod in that direction. A bird's- eye view of the course described by the top of the rod in this throw is represented by the right-hand figure of the cut. The largest arrow points down stream. B is the point from which the fly is picked up, and A the direction in which it is cast. 362 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. I V, V After practising these two casts for some years whenever the emergency required it in Trout-fishing, I was agreeably surprised in reading Chitty's (" Theophilus South's") " Fly- Fisher's Text-Book," to find them illustrated, and have intro- duced the above diagram, which is somewhat similar, to show that the same casts can be used in Salmon-fishing. There are other obstacles and impediments the Salmon- fisher meets with, which he will have to bear patiently or overcome as well as he can. Amongst these, there is nothing so annoying as an unfavorable wind. At one time it may blow obstinately in your very teeth, requiring a deal of " elbow- grease" to get the fly out. At another time there is a spank- ing breeze astern, and if you can get your line out behind you, there are many chances of cracking your fly off*. Then there is a side-wind blowing up stream or down stream, requiring a nice calculation as to how much you must allow for leeway, when aiming above or below the spot, as the case may be. At such times, unless the fish are very much dis- posed to rise, " the game does not pay for the candle," and the fisher had better get into some sheltered nook and light his pipe, instead of thrashing the wind and getting up a feeling of animosity against old Boreas or ^olus. SALMON-FISHING. 363 Salmon frequently leap above the water as if in play or to inhale an additional quantity of atmospheric air; at such times they are not disposed to take your fly. But when one is observed to rise at a natural fly — and there are very few of these on a Salmon river — the angler may expect a rise also at his counterfeit. The length of line that can be cast depends much on the length and spring of the rod ; three times its length is the limit that most writers on the subject give as the distance that can be cast with precision and lightness, but with a moderate fair wind, twenty-five yards can be covered with a rod of sixteen feet. A Salmon-pool is generally different from the water in which Trout are found. Not in the shade of trees overhang- ing a still pool, where a cooling spring branch trickles in ; not in the tossing, troubled head of a rift ; nor often in the eddies that whirl in circles at its sides ; nor in its backwater. But in the deep smooth rapid, generally occupying but a small portion of the breadth of the river ; or close to the rock that juts boldly up from the deep swift water; sometimes on the brink of the pitch, as it leaps over a ledge of rock. Then again where a moderate deep current terminates in a glassy rapid, called a " tongue" or a " sled-run," or just above the rocks on either side which force the current into these fancied shapes. In such places as the last mentioned, Salmon gene- rally rest after the labor of winning their way up the strong rapid. Although an experienced Salmon-fisher may go to a new river and point out most of the good pools, there are many casts he would overlook until one who has fished the stream before, or an attendant, who is acquainted wdth the river, points them out to him. Striking.— There is a great difference of opinion amongst gg4 AMERICAN angler's BOOK. Salmon-fisliers as to striking a fish, most of them contending that you should strike as soon as you see the fish, or the swell it makes in its attempt to seize the fly ; others that it should not be done until the fish has turned to go back. Some maintain (see Scrope's "Days and Nights of Salmon- fishing,") that you should feel a tug, or in Scotch parlance " a rug," before you strike. This deliberate way of dealing with a Salmon is advocated by " Ephemera." The novice in his agitation will be apt to forget any written directions, and strike violently, or too quickly, or not at all. The negative action is the least objectionable of the three ; for if the fish is at all eager he will generally hook himself, and the strain on the rod is frequently felt before the angler has time to raise the point of it. So in most cases one can take little credit to himself for hooking the Salmon, for it is rather the act of the fish than his own. The hook may be struck deeper in its hold by a dexterous movement of the wrist, and this is advisable if the fish does not strain the rod sufficiently to do so. Playing a Salmon. — A person who is accustomed to the use of the reel in playing other large fish, will soon acquire a reasonable degree of self-possession and skill in killing a Salmon. In doing this, three important things are to be observed : one is to keep up the point of the rod so as to bring its whole spring to bear on the fish, and by no means allow him to " straighten" on you {i. e., to get the line and rod in a direct line between you and him). For if you do, and there should be the slightest catch, or undue pressure on the line to prevent its running freely, he will have a dead pull on you, and will be almost certain to break the hold that the hook has in his mouth, or carry away your casting-line. The reel-line itself would hardly be strong enough to hold a large Salmon under such circumstances, particularly if by coming SALMON-FISHING. 3^5 towards you, he should get some slack in the line, and then suddenly turn and rush down stream. By undue pressure, I mean other resistance to the line passing out, than is caused by a moderately stiff click in the reel, or by that slight uniform pressure of the finger on the line,' or of the thumb on the reel, which only an angler of experience with perfect self-possession can give. Some Salmon-fishers use reels without a bearing . of any kind, depending on this acquired delicacy of touch ; but the only safe plan is to have one with a click, for the click bears continually and without variation ; and this is all the resistance that it is prudent for the angler to offer in playing a Salmon. And it is wonderful how slight this resistance is, when we consider what it accomplishes, for combined with the unceas- ing bearing of a springy rod, it wearies out and completely exhausts a powerful fish, even when assisted by a strong current. I have stated on a preceding page, that the resist- ance of the click, with the friction on the line in passing through the rings, does not exceed twelve ounces, and men- tion the result of the simple experiment here, to show how small a strain there is on the rod and line when a Salmon is properly managed, and to convince the novice how violence lessens the chances of securing his prize. When a Salmon takes the fly, he generally goes to the bottom, and on the instant evinces little or perhaps no alarm, pausing for a few moments as if astonished, or moving off slowly and generally a little way up stream. During this brief space of time the angler has opportunity to put on that self-possession which he will require before the fight is over. If the fish swims against the current, the point of the rod should be turned in the opposite direction. Presently he may drop down stream, not usually with head- long speed, but gradually, when it is n'ecessary to wind up, 3G6 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, keeping a taut line on him as lie passes down. "When lie gets below and becomes thoroughly aroused to a sense of his danger, he commences a series of desperate leaps or long runs, or both alternately. If he takes the current, he may run off a third of the line at a dash ; then the point of the rod should be turned to one side, butting him stoutly to get him into the still water on the side of the rapid. If this can- not be done he must be followed down stream, recovering line when you can, and giving it grudgingly when you must, keeping the rod in the mean time as nearly perpendicular as possible, and giving him its whole spring. When he leaps, if he is near you, the point of the rod is raised ; if far off the point should be lowered. In either case though, after a leap, if there is any slack line it should be immediately recovered, and the usual tension given. Whether fishing from the shore or from a canoe, there is not as much danger of losing a Salmon as one might suppose when it goes over a pitch. For, as I have just said, it does not rush headlong over, but drops down tail foremost, or sideways. At such time the rod should be kept well up, to ease the fish over with its spring. After guiding the fish carefully through the safest channel, another tussle should be had at the first favorable place to get it in shore, or out of the current. In bringing a fish within reach of the gaff, it is not safe to press him harder then, than at any other time of the contest. For by this time the hold of the hook may have nearly worn out. Many a fish is lost by rough usage, or even a little additional force, at such time. I have had the mortification on more than one occasion, of seeing a good fish, after he was fairly conquered, rid himself of the hook by a lazy wollop, or a ^^ave of its broad tail, and sink to the bottom or move slowly away. Some writers give directions as to what part of the body SALMON-FISHING. 3g7 a Salmon should be gaffed in. The first object should be to gaff it somewhere, and even this is not always easy ; though it sometimes happens that a fish is brought near shore, or within reach of the gaff, before it is half killed, and in a lull of the contest or in some quiet moment it may be gaffed, when a prolonged contest might lose it. On American rivers, although one is compelled in many places to cast from a canoe, he should fight his fish from the shore if practicable. It is always necessary to land either on the shore, or on a rock at some convenient place in the river, to bring him within reach of the gaff. In the foregoing, I have supposed a case — a common one — a^ to how a Salmon may act, and endeavored to give the unin- itiated some idea how the case should be treated ; but there is no telling what a Salmon when fully alarmed will do. At one moment he may be jumping, at the next running towards you, towing the slack line as it bags behind him, when it is necessary to run backwards if he comes faster than you can wind up. • Or he may turn his prow down stream, and with his powerful propeller, to which the flanges of the Ericsson screw are as nothing (when compared with the size of the body to be moved), and get headway enough to run out your whole line, if you do not follow fast. And then there is that desperate sawing and jerking of the head when the gentlest hand is required ; or, he may dart around a- boulder and double towards you, getting a dead pull, or foul the casting- line in a drift-log, and snap it like a cobweb ; or saw it against the sharp edge of a sunken rock, or go over a high pitch, while you have to run along the rocky bank, or shoot the rapid in a frail canoe ; or he may sulk on the bottom, when you have to throw in stones, or the canoe-man poke at him with his setting-pole. But why attempt to describe what a Sab-non may or will do ? 368 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. CAMPING ON THE RIVER. Ttie next thing in importance to the angler, after sport, is bis comfort on the river; he would therefore do well to bestow some thought on the subject before leaving home. His tent, his stores, his clothing, protection against mosquitoes, midges, and black flies, &c,, are all matters that require care and foresight. Camp Equipage. The Tent. — The most convenient size for the accommodation of one person, though it might answer for two, is an eight-foot tent ; that is, eight feet long, eight feet wide, and eight feet high, to the ridge-pole. There should be an opening at each end, to create a draft of air through it ; it should also be provided with a " fly," which, in addition to being a double roof to the tent, can be stretched over inclined poles, and used as a shelter for the canoe-men, when one's stay is of short duration at a station where there is no bark-shed. To shed the rain well, the roof of the tent should have an inclination of not less than forty degrees ; and to have room inside and allow a suitable elevation to the mosquito-bar, which is arranged on one side of it, the walls should be three and a half feet high. The best material for a tent of this kind is American cotton drill, weighing eight ounces to a yard, the goods being thirty-three inches wide. At most of the fishing-stations on Salmon rivers frequented by anglers, bark sheds have been erected at different times, and, as a matter of mutual interest, they are kept in repair by the canoemen. They are more suitable to sit or eat in, more convenient, with an impromptu table before you, to tie flies in, and even more comfortable to sleep in, with the usual log fire in front. Many persons prefer a bed of spruce boughs, and, to protect themselves thoroughly from the moisture of tlie ground. SALMON-FISHING. 3(59 spread over the boughs an India-rubber blanket or a buffalo- robe. If one wishes to sleep above the ground, a stretcher can be used. This is simply a piece of heavy linen canvas, six feet long by two and a half or three feet wide, with a hem of six inches on each side. A pole of suitable size and length is thrust through each hem, and the ends of the poles are supported by forked stakes, a foot or so above the ground, or by stout logs, one at the foot and the other at the head, with notches cut in them. When the camp is moved, the poles are drawn out of the hems, and the stretcher packed with the tent. To support the mosquito-bar, stakes three or four feet long are driven into the ground at each of the four corners of the stretcher ; and the bar is suspended by means of rings which slide along a stout cord extending from stake to stake on each side. The bar can be pushed to the head or foot of the bed by this means, when convenience requires it. As the nights are generally cold, even in summer, in the regions of Salmon, two thick blankets — one to sleep on, and another to cover one's self with — will be required. One will answer if you have a buffalo robe. Protection against Mosquitoes, Black-Flies, and Midges. — The angler frequently finds these pests of the wilderness so annoy- ing in daytime as to detract seriously from the pleasure of his sport. At night they are intolerable without a " smudge," so long as he sits up, and a good mosquito-bar after he has gone to bed. In daytime, the best protection is a veil for the face, and gauntlets for the hands. The best material for a veil is a thin cheap stiffened cotton fabric called "tarleton;" it is much lighter than barege, more open than silk tissue, and pooler than either, as it admits the air freely. It is also more suitable for a mosquito-bar than the article in general use, as the spaces between the threads of this fabric are small enough to exclude even black-flies. 24 370 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. The veil should be made in the shape of a bag, but open at each end, about fifteen or eighteen inches long, and two or two and a half feet in circumference. A piece of fine gum- elastic cord is run in the hem at the top to clasp the body of the hat, while a similar cord in the hem at the bottom secures it around the neck ; the rim of the hat keeps it out from the face. The bottom of the veil can be lifted somewhat, and the stem of a pipe stuck in the mouth when one wants to smoke. Gauntlets can be made by sewing linen cuffs to a pair of easy old kid gloves ; a piece of gum-elastic cord run in a hem at the top of the cuff, clasping the arm under the coat-sleeve. Last summer, I found a veil and gauntlets of this description effectually to keep out these unwelcome visitors. Different lubricating compounds have been recommended as preventives : among these are tar and sweet-oil, coal-oil, creosote and oil, and oil of pennyroyal. The latter is the cleanest, is not offensive, and is most convenient to carry ; it should be diluted with sweet- oil, as it is extremely volatile. The Canadians make a " smudge" to drive off the mosquitoes and flies, which is not only movable, but has a pleasant odor, not unlike that of the incense burnt in Catholic churches. It is made by beating strips of dry bark of the white cedar, and binding them into bundles four or five inches in diameter and two or three feet long. One of these bundles will burn for five or six hours, gradually smouldering away, and emit- ting a pretty stream of blue smoke. It is convenient to place by one's side at mealtime, or when reading or tying flies. I will not endeavor to anticipate by description, the interest with which the novice will mark the skill and readiness of the man of the woods, in the use of his paddle and pole, his axe and his knife, and the various materials and appliances he so aptly finds in the forest, for making rude tables, benches, stools, beds, baskets, buckets, &c. SALMON-FISHING. 371 Clothing,