Outdoor Sports and Games

by Claude Harris Miller

An artificial fly; used for salmon

In learning to cast a fly, you can practise at home, either in an open space or wherever there is room to work the line. It is not necessary to practise with the actual hooks or flies on the line. Simply tie a knot in it. Hold the rod lightly but firmly in the right hand. Point your thumb along the line of the rod and start by pulling out a little line from the reel with the left hand. With a steady sweep, cast the end of the line toward some nearby object and with each cast pull out a little more line until you reach a point when you are handling all the line you can take care of without effort or without too much of a sweep on the back cast. You must not allow the line to become entangled in trees or other obstacles. The wrist does most of the work in casting. The elbow should be close to the side. If you find that the line snaps like a whip on the back cast, it is because you start the forward cast before the line straightens out behind.

When you can handle twenty-five or thirty feet accurately, you can safely get ready to go fishing. The most successful fly fishermen use a short line, but they use it with the utmost accuracy and can make the flies land within a foot of the place they are aiming at almost every time. When a trout strikes your fly, you must snub him quickly or he will surely get away. If the flies you are using do not cause the fish to rise, and if you are certain that it is not due to your lack of skill, it will be well to change to some other combination of colours; but give your first selection a fair trial.

Bait casting is much easier than fly casting as the weight of the bait will help to carry out the line. It is the common method of fishing with minnows, frogs, small spoons and spinners, and other artificial lures. Some fishermen practise the method of allowing the line to run from the reel. The principal point in this way of fishing is to stop the reel by using the thumb as a brake at the instant that the bait strikes the water. This prevents the reel from spinning and causing the line to overrun. Neglect of this precaution will cause a very annoying tangle that is sometimes call a “backlash” but more often characterized by much harsher names by the impatient fisherman who has the misfortune to experience it.

In live bait casting, start with the line reeled to within fifteen inches of the end of the rod, holding the thumb on the reel spool. With a rather strong overhead sweep, bring the rod forward. At the proper instant, which is just as the point of the rod goes over your head, release the pressure of your thumb and the bait will go forward as the line runs out rapidly. When the bait lands, reel in slowly and with various motions try to give to the bait as life-like an appearance as possible. If you have a strike, allow the fish sufficient time to obtain a secure hold of the bait and by a sudden jerk fix the hook in his mouth.

Bait casting is as a rule a very effective method of catching fish, especially in shallow lakes and where fly fishing is not practised. In deep water, trolling or still fishing are usually the best methods of catching fish and often the only methods that will be successful. Trolling consists simply in rowing or paddling slowly with the bait or spoon trailing behind. It is not a scientific way of fishing and requires but little skill. When the fish strikes, it usually hooks itself and all that remains is to reel it into the boat and land it. The conditions on large lakes often make it necessary to follow one of these methods of trolling or still fishing, especially during the warm weather when the big fish have left the spawning grounds and are in deep water. There are trolling devices called spinners that have several gangs of hooks, sometimes as many as fifteen. No real fisherman would use such a murderous arrangement which gives the fish practically no chance at all and in many states their use is properly prohibited by law. A single hook, or at most a single gang of three hooks, is all that any one should ever use.

A raised pillar multiplying reel

Every boy knows what still fishing is. It is the common method of baiting our hook, casting it from the shore or from a boat and waiting for a bite. In still fishing it is customary to use a light sinker to keep the bait near the bottom and a float or “cork” which serves the double purpose of keeping the bait away from snags, stones, or weeds on the bottom and also of showing us when we have a bite. The more expert still fishermen never use a float, as they prefer to tell by the pull on the line when a fish has taken the bait.

A fishing boat should be thoroughly seaworthy and also have plenty of room. Flat-bottom boats make the best type for fishing, provided that we do not have to row them far or if the place where we use them is not subject to sudden squalls or rough water. The middle seat should contain both a fish well and a minnow box with a dividing partition and with two hinged lids fitted into the seat. Such a boat can be built by an ordinary carpenter and should not cost over ten or twelve dollars. It should be painted every year to keep it in good condition. Use clear white pine or cedar for the sides. The bottom boards should not be fitted tightly together but left with cracks fully a half-inch wide to allow for the swelling of the wood when the boat is launched. The best oarlocks are fastened to the oars and fit in the sockets with a long pin. This arrangement permits one to fish alone, and if trolling to drop the oars quickly and take up the rod without danger of losing them.