October, 1945

:.•.••• ". '• • • • BENNSYLVANI2 HF1 r- 7 V *'v^ # ••• * Itm • [0clot> PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER OFFICIAL STATE VOL. XIV-No. 10 PUBLICATION OCTOBER, 1945 OFFICIAL STATE PUBLICATION db PUBLISHED MONTHLY EDWARD MARTIN by the Governor PENNSYLVANIA BOARD OF FISH COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS Publication Office: J. Horace McFarland Co., CHARLES A. FRENCH Crescent and Mulberry Streets, Harrisburg, Pa. Commissioner of Fisheries Executive and Editorial Offices: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Board of Fish Com missioners, Harrisburg, Pa. MEMBERS OF BOARD 10 cents a copy—50 cents a year CHARLES A. FRENCH, Chairman Ellwood City JOHN L. NEIGER EDITED BY— Scranton J. ALLEN BARRETT, Lecturer Pennsylvania Fish Commission JOSEPH M. CRITCHFIELD South Office Building, Harrisburg Confluence • CLIFFORD J. WELSH Erie NOTE J. FRED McKEAN Subscriptions to the PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER should be addressed to the Editor. Submit fee either New Kensington by check or money order payable to the Common wealth of Pennsylvania. Stamps not acceptable. MILTON L. PEEK Individuals sending cash do so at their own risk. Radnor CHARLES A. MENSCH Bellefonte PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER welcomes contribu tions and photos of catches from its readers. Proper EDGAR W. NICHOLSON credit will be given to contributors. Philadelphia H. R. STACKHOUSE Secretary to Board All contributions returned if accompanied by first class postage. Entered as Second Class matter at the Post Office C. R. BULLER of Harrisburg, Pa., under act of March 3, 1873. Chief Fish Culturist, Bellefonte Cp IMPORTANT—The Editor should be notified immediately of change in subscriber's address. Please give old and new addresses. Permission to reprint will be granted provided proper credit notice is given. PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER VOL. XIV —No. 10 mm OCTOBER, 1945 — COVER — HUCK FINN By PAUL DEDERER Third prize winner in nation-wide photo contest conducted by SOUTH BEND BAIT COMPANY, South Bend, Indiana. Photo courtesy of South Bend—A Name Famous In Fishing. In This Issue: FISHING THE POCKETS By DICK FORTNEY FLY-TYING AID FOB THE BEGIN OCTOBER—and Autumn leaves are falling. NER IN TYING THE DRY FLY By WILLIAM F. BLADES Fall, with its tang of foliage perfume and the sharp coolness of ap proaching Winter in the offing, presents a most invigorating season LET'S CO CARP FISHING of the year. A season, this year, free of the blistering Hell of War! THE LEGEND OF LI'L ABNER Carefree expeditions into the outdoors, into the beauty and splendor By BICHARD ESLER and quietude of a wonderland painted in hues of inspiring magnif icence—are calling. A LIVING MEMORIAL TO ANNIE OAKLEY —And, oh yes! The bass are hitt'n! Skipping minnows and swirling By J. W. STUBER waters foretell their mood; while lower water temperatures have in cited the lightning lunge of the pickerel and "muskie." These are LITTLE JOUBNEYS INTO indeed fine days along the chill banks of midsummer warm-water YESTEBYEAB streams. By J. ALLEN BARRETT The tang of frost in your nostrils. Lungs expanding with clean, fresh TROUT FISHING ON THE air. Minds free once more to drink to the full, the last fleeting mo BIG SCBUBGBASS ments of a season's sport so near and dear to the hearts of us all. By T. BROWNELL Come out! SNAP SHOTS FROM THE REALM OF FISHING Lay aside those worries and cares. Come out for your share of this health and life-inspiring tonic! Forget all else save pitting your wit THE LOWLY CRAWFISH and skill against the elusive bass and pickerel. These are the days of By CHARLES B. REIF nature's own transition from Summer to Winter. The handiwork of the Maker is all about you and invites you to rest and relax. THE GREAT OUTDOORS By HARRIS G. BRETH For it's OCTOBER— . and Autumn leaves are falling. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ANGLING? —THE PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER By JIM HURLEY FISH COMMISSION HONOR BOLL PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER OCTOBER FISHING THE POCKETS When a Stream is Hish and Swift, Look for Trout in Every Spot Where Current is Broken By DICK FORTNEY The problem was to get a dry fly to the fish! The next pool fished presented a different It was impossible to wade out into the water problem. > for a straight upstream cast. It would have been In this stretch of water there normally are foolhardy to cross the creek, anyhow, and wade large boulders which stand virtually high and in the very water in which the trout were living. dry, and with the stream high they still pro The only way was to cast across and slightly truded a bit above the surface. The current upstream, with the line lying across the swift cur- swirled around them, but nestling against their tent and the fly and leader on the more quiet downstream sides were pockets of quiet water. water along the far shore. The first cast of a dry fly on such a pocket The problem of getting the fly to float without brought a fast rise from a small trout—a response Dick Fortney drag was not so difficult at that, however. The so speedy, as a matter of fact, that the fish cast was made in such a manner that while the "dunked" the fly and disappeared without ever line lay straight across the current, the leader feeling even the faintest prick of the hook. lay on the surface in several large loops. The best Floating the fly on this kind of water was even way to make such a cast was to aim the fly at a more difficult than the shore-line fishing on the "target" a foot or two above the surface of the first pool, because the area of the quiet water in water, and it fell of its own accord in the manner no case was more than a foot and a half wide by- ERE sight of a trout brook in spring, its desired. two feet long, with strong current all around, and waters swollen by April downpours—roaring M The result was the fly floated for a satisfactory drag could be avoided on only about one cast in rapids taking the place of riffles and deep runs distance before the pull of the faster-floating five. where usually placid pools are found—is enough line straightened out the leader and caused the to cause the dry fly angler to shake his head But every boulder in the pool produced action. lure to drag. And about every two feet along the in despair. To float a fly" on such raging water Heavy rains had washed out a large willow at whole far shore of the pool a trout was solidly is all but impossible, it seems, and anyhow it the next hole, and as it fell its tangled roots hooked. does not appear likely trout would be feeding settled down near the head of the pool. But the in the torrent. The biggest trout caught, incidentally, never water flowed like a mill-race agamst the roots, did reach the landing net. It took the fly solidly. and floating a dry fly there was utterly im Those conclusions are true—so far as they go! But the fine art of pocket fishing still enables the dry fly angler to enjoy his sport—and, more important, to take fish, and good ones too—even under such seemingly adverse conditions. It is extremely difficult to float a delicate fly on water so swift and broken that the angler hesi tates about wading in it. And, too, trout are not to be found feeding there either. But unless the stream is in flood (and the angler would not be out if it were), trout are to be found and will take the fly in those numerous spots in the stream where the force of the current is broken and the fish are able to maintain their positions. Pocket fishing is a good name for the technique of catching such trout. The method can best be illustrated by de scribing an early season's trip to a small trout stream in Central Pennsylania during the past season. Large streams in the area were bankfull How two pools produced different fishing problems. At the right of the riffle the trout were lying close to shore among submerged rocks, where the current was less swift. On the right of the riffle the fish were of milk-colored water that afternoon, and the on the downstream sides of rocks which broke the flow of the water. The spots are marked with an X. trout brook itself was a good two feet above what should have been its level at that time. Wading the stream was impossible, although the water darted into the middle of the pool, and put on a possible. Among the roots and branches of the along the l>anks was shallow enough to make it burst of speed downstream that, aided by the fallen tree, however, a bit of debris floated lazily, possible to cast a dry fly despite thick brush and force of the current, easily snapped the leader indicating that there was very little current there, trees. point. Frequently, too, the evil of a dragging fly and it was the logical hiding place of any trout The first pool fished ordinarily is long and was demonstrated, when a trout would flash into that happened to be in that particular vicinity. flat., with plenty of large rocks scattered on the sight for a moment, but refuse the lure that was A sunken dry fly did the trick. bottom and some deeper runs cut by the broad leaving a tiny wake on the surface as the line and It worked this way: The fly was cast a con riffle at the head.

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