^Tn^Z^Ei*] OFFICIAL STATE PUBLICATION VOL
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
lENNSYLVSSiA ^Tn^Z^Ei*] OFFICIAL STATE PUBLICATION VOL. XVIII—NO. 9 SEPTEMBER, 1949 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION Division of HON. JAMES H. DUFF, Governor JL PUBLICITY and PUBLIC RELATIONS * J. Allen Barrett Director PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION MILTON L. PEEK, President RADNOR PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER BERNARD S. HORNE, Vice-President South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa. PITTSBURGH WILLIAM D. BURK MELROSE PARK 10 Cenls a Copy—50 Cents a Year GEN. A. H. STACKPOLE Subscriptions should be addressed to the Editor, PENNSYL DAUPHIN VANIA ANGLER, South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa. Submit fee either by check or money order payable to the Commonweal'" PAUL F. BITTENBENDER of Pennsylvania. Stamps not acceptable. Individuals sending cas" WILKES BARRE do so at their own risk. CLIFFORD J. WELSH ERIE PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER welcomes contributions and photo* sf catches from its readers. Proper credit will be given to con LOUIS S. WINNER tributors. Send manuscripts and photos direct to the Edito PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER, South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa' LOCK HAVEN * Entered as Second Class matter at the Post Office of Harris EXECUTIVE OFFICE burg, Pa., under act of March 3, 1873. C. A. FRENCH, Executive Directot ELLWOOD CITY IMPORTANT! H. R. STACKHOUSE The ANGLER should be notified immediately of change in sub Adm. Secretary scriber's address. Send both old and new addresses to Pennsyl vania Fish Commission, South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa. * Permission to reprint will be granted if proper credit is give"' C. R. BULLER Chief Fish Culturist THOMAS F. O'HARA Construction Engineer Publication Office: Tele graph Press, Cameron and WILLIAM W. BRITTON Chief Fish Warden Kelker Street Harrisburg, Pa. Executive and Editorial Offices: Commonwealth of ROBERT P. DEITER Comptroller Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Fish Commission, Harris- burg, Pa. 7f COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION HARRISBURG. PA. The Angler Water . "Of all inorganic substances, acting in their own proper t6t4> *?&4Ue . nature, and without assistance or combination, water is the ^aster Angler of Sullivan County most wonderful. If we think of it as the source of all the By William Boyd changefulness and beauty which we have seen in the clouds; 15 Royal Highness then as the instrument by which the earth we have con By Diclc Fortney templated was modelled into symmetry, and its crags chiselled 6 e Bluegill into grace; then as, in the form of snow, it robes the moun J*m Trouble 8 tains it has made, with the transcendent light which we could By Lee A. Diehl not have conceived if we had not seen then as it exists in Reptiles & Amphibians 10 the foam of the torrent, in the iris which spans it, in the By Hal H. Harrison morning mist which rises from it, in the deep crystalline pools uTah for Little Giant II By Ed Zern which mirror its hanging shore, in the broad lake and glanc ing river, finally, in that which is to all human minds the %h Activities 12 best emblem of unwearied, unconquerable power, the wild, various, fantastic, tameless unity of the sea; what shall we fining in England 21 By E. Burton compare to this mighty, this universal element, for glory and \ r eam-Side Life 22 for beauty? Or how shall we follow its eternal cheerfulness By Robert Leo Smith of feeling? It is like trying to paint a soul." ^es of N. E. Pennsylvania . 24 —Ruskin By Joseph A. Yanchik tie (footer . .. K typical Member of the force of Pennsylvania Fish Wardens. Master Angler of Sullivan County I Veteran Caught The Big Ones With Cheap Tackle, Using Only Worms As Bait ;1 By WILLIAM BOYD He lived with his old, gray-haired As we traversed the well beaten pa. wife in an isolated frame house in the leading from the back porch to $ most thinly populated section of Sulli dusty road in front of the house, ™ van County, which all together has old man gave us instructions. L :^< only enough people to make a good- "I calculate you fellows better P5*. sized borough. During trout seasons Little Muncy this mornin', and if n"e' he spent the daylight hours fishing. ain't hittin' there try them two trit^ Ms' In my many years of angling I have taries," and he gave us minute instr^jj known a number of men very adapt tions on the location of two si*13 at catching trout, but this friendly old streams to which he referred. •>ir fellow in the "sticks" could give the Then and there he left us and ^ *r. best of them a handicap and beat them didn't see him again until late afte f», any day in the season at hooking noon. tie "speckled beauties." e "The old rascal!" exclaimed his st Pj M How he did it, I do not know, for I son. "He doesn't want to be bothere never had the privilege of seeing him with us, but I know he is sending in operation along a trout stream. In to the best trout waters in these VaT \ fact, he plainly shunned companion Now if either of you want to lay ship when it came to trout fishing. I small wager that he won't have nic I •d suspect others cramped his style, so he trout at the end of the day than tJ1 '1* preferred to be alone when visiting three of us combined I'll take y° his favorite holes and riffles in the Sul bets and give you liberal odds." THE OLD ANGLER 1 livan County streams adjacent to his He told us what he knew about & lonely place. stepfather's fishing practices as ^ I recall my first visit to this old at any cut-rate sporting goods store for three of us walked together down *| fed chap's stamping grounds. His step-son $1.98. dusty road toward Little Muncy Cref^ The old fellow stepped down off the took me and my good friend, Doc, "He has never taken me with b1^! there early in this particular trout porch and I was curious to see what he was going to do about a creel, for he either," our friend said, "but a j\ season with the definite promise we'd seasons ago I stumbled upon him Wi*1 enjoy excellent trout fishing. had his rod in his hand and obviously was all set to start out. Then he the two of us were fishing up he Our host's old mother, second wife He hadn't invited me to fish with *^ I of the master angler of whom I am reached under the porch steps and e produced a pail with a wire handle. so I knew he didn't want me too n jj. writing, had ready for us when we He hadn't spotted me, for I was quie•* arrived a very inviting breakfast of On it was a paper label indicating the bucket originally had contained some fishing a pool when I heard him ^ k buckwheat cakes and canned sausage. stream, so I slipped into the un A I remember how she bustled around thing which his old helpmate had used in the kitchen. brush of the stream's bank & the big farmhouse kitchen that crisp watched him. morning and how I marveled at her I inquired if he intended carrying "Pop's just like an Indian in \. activity. Even then she was so old she his minnows in the bucket and he re u woods both when he's fishing and h vV was quite stooped and one had to plied: s shout to make himself understood, for "Naw, son, that there's my fish ing, so I wasn't surprised when I \ him crawl on his stomach to a si0.. her hearing was almost entirely gone. holder. I like my trout nice and fresh a Her husband, several years her jun when I get 'em home, so I keep 'em pool where the water swirled ufl . ior although quite ancient in his own alive in this here pail." And later in the submerged roots of an old & right, didn't permit us to linger long the day I learned this was the truth stump. «j over that satisfying breakfast. and that he hadn't been kidding me, "He looked at the worm on his n° g "We better be gittin' out on those which I had suspected at the time. and then adjusted that old teles'^ rod of his until it wasn't more than streams," he said as he pushed back Further, he wasn't using minnows. 3 the antique plank-bottom kitchen chair All he had for bait was red worms dug feet long. Then he reached out c on which he $[at. "There are some in the abandoned barnyard on his ously with one arm and dropped . guys from over in the coal regions up place. These he carried in a baking hook into the water around the \ A here this spring and we'd better beat powder can stuffed in his overall roots. In only a few seconds he I | pocket. as quietly flipped a dandy brook tr J 'em to the good holes." 1 Dawn had but recently broken when I wonder, too, what he was going to out on the bank by his side, f ^ we stepped out on the back porch. I do about negotiating the streams he back to where his water-filled pail ^ had ben wondering what sort of tackle fished, for on his feet were a pair of standing, took the trout carefully the old angler used but wasn't too sur battered and patched hunting gums the hook, and put it in the pail- j.