Hope in Fishing.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13450, 23 November 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

Hope in Fishing.

— ' A hopeful spirit, which is an essential part of every adglcr's nature, is more needed in fishing lor Vsidmoii than in any other kind of fly-fishing. There are I=o many blank days, the'habits of the'fish aro so mysterious, we knoAv so little of; the causes Avliich prompt salmon to rise to a fly, that >a large stock of hope is necessary, and there ii 3 no apparent reason Avhy a day Avhich promises badly should not turn out well. We are, as it Av-ere fishing in .the dark; but sooner or later, if Are persist, Ave shall certainly be reAvarded by the supreme satisfaction of hooking a'salmon/ The "present Avriter was once tithing 011 the Tay Avii-l'i a youthful angler. After iiiariy hours of dreary and fruitless cutting,- the youth called out for assistance because, as lie said, something very odd had happened to his line. The' i strange mystery had 'soon solved: a salman had taken the fly Vlider Avater, and' I. was fighting sulkily at the bottom of the pool. But in oi'der' to persist until success is attained liope*' is essential 1 and' I to cultiA-ate and keep it iiliv-6 tlie salmonfisher. resorts to; many "devices. >. It is, of course, /different, with troutfishing, where AA r e see.the fish, or see their rings,' when. they . rise. We. know that at some: time or ether in the tAventy-four, hours they Avill feed. We can tell Avhat fly they wi'.l on a trout stream seldom fails on others of the" same natiiye. For-though' no man can compel x trout to take a fly when they will not-, tho skill: of the individual ■fisherman i-eually Counts for 'much more ! Avith trout than it ,does Avith salmon.; It is" peihaps oqo of the attraction? of sal-'mon-fishir- that there is something of a, ITottery about it. ; and that. the prizes, i.'though, few, are. big, ones. .Who is there tlmt lias not on. a .'fishing- 'day '-.abandoned, the c&t t-;iinly of a good basket, of trout for the faint chance, of a, i-.mall salnon 1 Again, the attractions .of suhnoii-fiishing are vastlv increased bv the. nature, of the' Ava'er to' b;> ffelwd and the pleasure of Avieldinsi a big rod and. casting a heavy lin-e. 'There is a passage,in one.-of George Hori'OAvV books in Avhiiih lie. dtisei'ibes lioav VuT*has. always .-laved,, to.. gaze- npon.-'st rt?a.ins:' In this same spirib on.'i nlay say that no day .spent on the banks of even the -mean-: est"-r-almon-river fa. evi'-r Availed. a man Avho lufj fished diligently all day with.,a saluion-rod fee's that he has done Avork, vs to face the blank days. For though and earned his rest. These things enable a man may be tired and .disheartened by the evening,, the . true fisherman always Avakes hopeful next morning. There may even be good reasons for-hopjng that- fortune Arill . change. If there are not. the f. hernian invents them. Sir JSdward Grey •in his book lias told us lioav for five years from tho time he Avas " fifteen he had a few day's salmon-fishing every year Avithout hooking • a fish. Lpon a later Occa sion he fished for ten consecutive days on one of the best spring riven* in Scotland, Avhen the .water Avas in ord-or the whole time ; but- ho never - had- a rise. Another 1 season-lie fished every day for four weeks I.Yin' a good beat 011 a good river in September and 'caught- only' two fish; of these 0110 never .rose, at the fly at all, but happened to get foul hooked by jumping on the top . of the gut in a sAvift •stream: The most light-hearted, an 4 'persistant fisherman could not fact such a ruccession of blank days'Avitliout despondency did he not artificially cultiA-ate hope, I It would 1 seem that. 01A of 1 he most effective AA r ays of doing tliis is by carryiifg a large stock of flies' and cliaiiging' from one to the other. . . . ' ' . , Ainong the principal mvfiieries of mon-fishing is the •instinct or iinpu'ee Avhich makes the fisll seize Avliat is - known his a -fly. It may be appetite, angeij, play, .cuiibsi'ty, annoyance, or merely a predatory instinct. It is npAV so established that salmon do, not habitually feed in fvesh vrater that the fisherman cannot hope that liungel". or the desire to satisfy it, will impel ifia salmon in a pool sooner or iafer. to take the .flv. ,0n t he other hand, if. curiositv or aunovanco be the moving impulse, there is even iciijoii to go on hoping- And the Avav in Avhich a iisli that lias bien slioavi) the fly at- interva's during the day Avill at last suddenly seize it almost induces one to believe; that .salmon can be successfully teased into rising. It niri-t ba, of course, remembered ' that salmon have no hands, and" the only way'- that they can gratify their curiosity or 'exhibit anger is by seiz-, ing a little moving object in' the jaAvs. Some'i'njes they only conn up 'to- look, at the fly, > and liaying satisfied thpinselveii. go back-. Sometimes they rise Avith an angry snap and in us the fly. fit such cas-ii's there is hope tllat tht?y 111 a} come again later on. > .- Ropv is very much kei>t alive in fca'moutishuii* bv the iact that Ave do not uur fish; and onlv know of theie- AAiieieabouts by tradition or...expeneucO.- "The broAvn, foaming pool is. deep, and Aiho kiniAis aa hat may be happening beneath the surface- as avi*. cast aciti-.s and A\atch the lively, flv SAvinimiiig and struggling, as it were, against the stream? Have the salmon seen it?..'. Ma- noD another cast bp successful ? Then. . after houis duiing Avhich a fisli hhr Hot apparently moved, Ave wonder whether thsi-s is a in the pool. There i.i 110 means of knowing. and all this uncertainty .may be made conducive to hopefulness if Ave look at things from the angler s aspect. It i> the tremendous uncertainty of salmon fishing that keeps Wi ahvays expectant. Hope is na'urally at its highest in the morning AvliPii Ave reel off a little hue at the edire of the fi'irit- pool, and begin to fish AviUi lively eagerness and-tremendous care. We avill sup|wse that * stuf f'. of the- j ivei . is pronounced good; neither . too high 1101 too low. The AveijLthor,and the aviikl Ave put doAvn as ajso favourable, < ls far as Ave can judge: at lei-.it .-av.c hom,r that tliey are- Hoav often the, of the gillie, siftin go'n the bank attentive, and Avatchful, declares, as the fly reaches (some ;part.of the >ixwl: "He should come iioav, if lie comes at. all.-' The critical passes, we have fished > with redoubled

care, Uie ily is cast further clown across the swirling litream, ,nid nothing has happened. So we fish over the whole pool fruitlessly. Are Ave dispirited? Nob in the lease; we fully hope that the next* pool will produce a, rise. We aie Convinced that the day is not going to be blank. We could' not go on fishing were it otherwise.

Bub then as the day passes without a rise or a pull the spirits sink a little. The beiit poo's have yielded nothing. We begin to iisli like a machine, covering the water foot by foot, and working the fly with, out the same trembling expectation as at lie beginning of the day. When; we have fished our beat once over -we. revive our hopefulness by changing the fly. This is the most fertile expedient for raising frefeh hopes, though one may doubt how fur a i-alni;on discriminates' between minute .-hades- of pattern and sma.ll differences in • dressing. Size is more important, for there can be 110 doubt that in. deep and: hoavy water a, larger fly is needed than when the river is low. So two courses aie open to us: we can try with different patterns, and we can try them at different sizes. At each change of fly we gaze for a moment at the attractive combination of tinsel and foa'hers, we test the knot, and straighten out the gut with our fingeis before launching it to take its trial. Surely it will be irresistible. So hope is again revived. At last when variom patterns aie tried in vain Ave feel once more downhearted; yet the angler's spirit tells us we must not giv| up fishing. So Ave give tlie river a rest, which menris really that Ave rest oirtiselves." and begin again in half-an-ho'ur with fresh hopes. Or else we eat somo food or have a. smoke, .both of which are infallible remedies for despondency in lishing. Or e'se Ave persuade ourselves that some change haa come over the .water or the weather since Ave tried the same pool earlier in the day. If it was cloudy, we hope that sun - will make the fish move. If the morning was bright, Ave Avelcoine clouds because any change makes us-hope-ufl again. It considered », rule among salmon-fishers that there i« a better chance on a dull than a blight day. But the present Avriter av.is recently fishing on a email river in lslay Avhen there were abrupt changes from dark clouds to bril-. liant sunshine, and; the two fii-li hooked during the day both rose to the fly whin the sun was throwing it>> rays on the'pool, though it Avas fished over before during dull and cloudy intervals. So any change, may give ground 011 which to build, our 'hones.' We also look to t,he direction mid force of the -wind. The .stagnant pool Anil 'now have a good ripple from"ilie breeze. In another place Are fchall be able out a straighter line since the' wind litis propped. Or else Ave look at the wilier, which may have fallen 'iioav, and liaye been too high earlier-in the day ;, or .'else a -shower on the hills hris it), a little, and Ave hope that uoav a change Avillcome. By nighttime-Ave are, of course, often disappointed aiid cast down bjr fruitless' labour. But hope always' comes in the morning. Salmon-fishing is' such a liivsteriojis businen> and salmon are sticli Avhiir/sical fish that, as-long as there is. .water in'•the- river,; hope need neverbe abandoned.; W« could not go on fishing without fiesli hopes. (" Spectator," September 21st.) , ;