How to Approach a Trout.—" ... sense of hearing in all species of fish is a matter of concussion on the surface of the water. Sit motionless in a boat, and you may sing, "I Won't Go Home 'Til Morning," or any other gala song, to the extreme high limit of your voices, and the trout or any other fish will remain undisturbed, but, scratch your toe upon the bottom of the boat, and presto! the pool is as dead and barren as a burned prairie. Approach a pool from over the bank with a careless tread, and when you reach it the trout are gone, none know where. Crawl to the pool noiselessly on all fours and you will find your trout reposing without fear of danger. The avoidance of concussion is the great factor on a trout pool or stream in getting a satisfactory creel. Slide, rather than step, in wading, and your success will be greater."—Wm. C. Harris.
Strike from the Reel or Hand?—"The strike must be made with sufficient force and no more. If insufficient, the hook will not penetrate far enough to hold the fish in its subsequent struggles, and if the force is excessive the gut will break at its weakest point, and leave the fly and possibly one or more strands of gut in the trout's jaws. The Angler should acquire the habit of striking from the reel, i.e., without holding the line in the hand. Many old fishermen prefer holding the line when striking, but it is at best a risky proceeding, and too likely to result in a breakage of the gut."—F. M. Halford, The Dry-Fly Man's Handbook. "Personally I never 'strike from the reel' ... because less control is had over the line, likewise the fish."—Charles Zibeon Southard, Trout Fly-Fishing in America. I favor Mr. Halford's method—"strike from the reel"—in fly-fishing and in weakfish fishing with light tackle. In heavy bait fishing, Mr. Southard's strike with the "hand-held line" suits me.
The Silver Hook.—"There is a good deal of fun in thinking you are going to have it."—New York Press.
True; Walton says the Angler's anticipation of fishing is as great a joy as the realization of it.
Angling Ailment.—"We never get over the fishing fever; it is a delightful disease, and, thank the Lord, there is no cure."—Ira W. Moore.
Angling and Nature.—"Association with men of the world narrows the heart; communion with nature expands it."—Jean Paul Richter.
Angling and Mathematics.—"Angling may be said to be so much like the Mathematics, that it can ne'er be fully learnt; at least not so fully, but that there will still be more new experiments left for the tryal of other men that succeed us."—Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler, 1653.
Tendency of Angling.—"I am now over 76 [years in age] and owe my life to fishing, and I find the tendency of fishing is to make one careful, artful, patient, and practical."—"Watcher."
Angling a Science.—"Angling is a science, not merely a pastime. It will broaden you and start your boy in a manly sport that will draw him to the country instead of to the dance hall, to the fields and streams instead of to the pool room."—"Greenhorn."
Fly vs. Worm.—"That fly-fishing is clean, and free from the muscular efforts of mountain-climbing; that it is usually rewarded with larger fish than those taken with a worm; that it has a freedom, a jollity, a certain broad, wide-spaced exhilaration, I willingly admit. But, the humbler, old-fashioned method has a charm of its own which I am not ready to forego."—Willis Boyd Allen.