pennsylvania angler 1953 - Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

and is served up the way the fish
want it.
My favorite midge nymph is nothing
more than a short body of black tying
silk on an extra short No. 18 hook
with a sparse fringe of black ostrich
herl as hackle. The short shanked hook
permits a very small fly to be tied on
a hook of obviously greater hooking
qualities.
Midging trout often hang just under
the surface in flat water and this makes
it necessary to grease all except the
last few inches of leader so that the
fly drifts only slightly under the surface.
Cast across stream or quartering
downstream to rising fish and don't
strike too quickly. Trout take these
flies with a slow, lazy movement and
an over-anxious strike will take the
fly away from the fish.
One of the best ways I know to brush
up on nymphing technique is to get
an occasional workout on a good panfish
pond. Panfish love nymphs and
they'll do a lot toward sharpening your
reflexes for that next session with the
trout. Just remember to keep that line
floating and use a long, fine leader.
Nymph fishing is not the panacea
for all angling ills, to be used as a surefire
method when everything else fails.
Much of the charm of fly fishing would
be lost if it were. It is, however, a
form of angling practiced very successfully
by those who use it judiciously,
but grossly neglected by the average
fisherman. It is no more complicated or
difficult to master than the other forms
of fly fishing; fish the nymph confidently
where there are trout and you
will take fish.
NEW DRY FLY
CAST
(From page 21)
swift water near the angler while the
rest of the line closer to the fly will
remain much straighter, while the fly
floats naturally. When the situation is
reversed—with the quiet water near
the fisherman and the swifter water
near to where the big fish is feeding
—then the angler waggles his rod just
as the line is looping overhead, and
as the line completes its forward action,
he follows through with the
normal cast. What happens? The line
near the angler falls almost straight
into the quiet water; farther out on
the swifter current it falls into a series
of SSSSes and beyond that the dry
fly floats undisturbed for an appreciable
length of time.
In employing the Lazy S cast upstream
where most dry fly anglers
think they are getting a good float
with conventional casts, the fisherman
will be amazed how effective this cast
can be here, too. By throwing in some
small elongated SSSSes, he will see
that his fly will tend to float more
slowly and independently as the lower
SSSSes near him straighten out first.
Also, it is quite possible to employ
this cast with a roll cast to get the
fly under overhanging brush or when
a cliff or brush in the background do
not permit a back cast. Then, as the
roll is committed in the conventional
manner, waggle the rod as the line
slips through your fingers and the
SSSSes, again, will form in the line.
Frankly, there are two drawbacks to
the Lazy S cast—both of these, however,
can become assets if they are
recognized and properly evaluated:
The Lazy S cast adds a great deal of
slack to the line because of the SSSSes
and because the angler will find himself
fishing farther off than with his
conventional cast. Fortunately, in
striking the fish the impulse will travel
through the slack SSSSes if the line
is floating properly—thanks to surface
tension. It will soon become second
nature to the fisherman to judge the
amount of slack, and strike accordingly,
remembering that it is only
"Had tough luck with your rod,
Joe . . . Lost a nice one."
necessary to move the hook a quarter
of an inch to set it. It helps, of course,
to keep the point of the hook needlepoint
sharp, as it should be. By using
the same power utilized in striking
with the conventional cast, the angler
will set his hook softer and therefore
he can usually step down to a finer
tapered leader tippet which is less visible
and which will deceive more of
the bigger trout. And that, to be sure,
is the ambition of all trout anglers.
The second seeming handicap is that
the strike is slower in travelling from
angler to hook through the longer line
and the SSSSes. For large fish, again,
this is a decided benefit. They are deliberate
and most anglers, including
myself, have the bad habit of taking
the fly away from their big fish. This
cast therefore forces a certain amount
of slowing down upon the angler.
All of which goes far in taking the
trophy fish!
FISH IN THE OLD
CANAL AGAIN
(From page 5)
the new plant. The local health officer
meanwhile had taken care of the adjoining
cesspool drainage that had
been emptying into the canal.
By this time the ever-present boys
were fishing in the canal for whatever
would bite. During the warmer days
they were "accidentally" falling in, undressed,
and swimming. Signs posted
by the Inter-Club Canal Commission
prohibiting swimming until okayed by
the health authorities were used to
hang clothes on. According to a local
newspaper columnist the canal looked
like the good old days when it was a
main artery of transportation as well
as a recreational spot for the local
people.
Then came the notice from the Fish
Commission stating they would stock
the two mile portion of the canal belonging
to the Inter-Club Canal Commission
on November 28, 1952. By
evening, it was the main topic of conversation
in the participating sportsmen's
clubs as well as throughout the
Borough of Freemansburg.
The Fish Commission stocked a total
of 4,860 fish in five different locations
along the rented portion of the canal.
There were 500 yellow perch, 3,000
suckers and 1,360 black bass. A caval-
28 PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER