138 ANGLING IN FEBRUARY. BY PISCATOR. BAIT AND FLY FISHING FOR TROUT, SALMON, PEAL, BULL TROUT, AND GRAYLING-FLIES BEST ADAPTED FOR THE SEASON-OBSERVATIONS ON EARLY PERCH FISHING-TROLLING FOR PIKE, TACKLING BEST ADAPTED FOR-HOW TO COOK YOUR FISH WHEN CAUGHT. When February commences, most anglers begin, at least, to think about getting their tackle together; and, ere the month is ended, many a good dish of fish is usually taken, unless the season proves an extremely severe one. Fly fishing is, according to the established law of anglers, permitted to commence on the fourteenth of the month, but very little sport is usually met with, except in small streams, till March is somewhat advanced; yet, in clear streams of moderate size, particularly such as have a gravel bottom, the trout are far more forward than in deeper and more extensive waters, and, about the middle of a warm day, will be found to rise as freely, even in the present month, as at any season of the year. Still, for early fishing, preserved salmon spawn, or worms, are the most certain baits; and, when the waters are in a proper state, these are sure of taking fish all the month through, and this at any time of the day. Yet such will only occur in the brooks or ditches; for, in the large rivers, very few trout will be taken with either of those baits so early in the season. In fact, if you want to catch trout in February, or March either, rivulets that are nearly dry in the summer are the most likely places to meet with them, where many a fine lusty fellow may often be lugged out from a channel so narrow as scarcely to allow him room to turn about in. The best weather, at this early time of the year, is a mild day, with a grey mottled sky. When a bleak cold easterly wind sets in, but little can be done; nor can much sport be expected with a raw northerly wind, particularly if accompanied by frost or hail-storms; yet, in spite of all these disadvantages, as there is an exception to nearly every general rule, so, in exceedingly raw and cold weather, and amidst showers, sometimes of snow and at others of sleet and hail, I have made some excellent catches; and many heavy baskets of fish should I have missed making myself the owner of, had I been deterred from the attempt by too much regarding an untoward appearance in the weather. During a continuance of frost, however, the chance of sport is certainly not worth the attempt; still, for all this, a little white frost, if the day prove mild afterwards, will not do much harm-at any rate, not after the middle of the day; and even early trout will bite at a worm, unless the frost has been very severe indeed. The height and colour of the water is the great thing an angler has to keep in view in early spring fishing. Generally speaking, in this fill-ditch month, there are few running streams that are not often overcharged with water, and the latter generally flowing in a turbid state; the greatest attention, therefore, must be directed so to choose your time that you may take the water at the proper height, and then, unless the day be an exceedingly cold one, sport is absolutely certain in an early river. The great drawback to February fishing is the snow-waters; as these, even if they do not foul the stream, impart a bitterness to them that takes away the appetites of the fish as long as the waters remain affected. The best flies for this month are the blue hackle with a peacock herl body, made rather large if the waters are strong, and used as a stretcher, with a dropper of a hare's ear, body with a woodcock's wing. In addition to these you may use a similar blue hackle ribbed with silver twist, or a common red palmer with a body either of peacock or ostrich herl, and either plain or ribbed with silver twist: though the latter gives a more perfect resemblance to the insect it is intended to represent, i. e., a small water beetle, particularly as it appears when travelling through the water. This singular little insect continues, by some means or other, to surround itself with a kind of hubble or halo of air; which, as it moves through the water, gives the beetle the bright and glistening appearance of the silver twist which is aptly represented in the imitation. Whether it lays in this store of air for the purpose of breathing, or defending its body from the contact of the water, or both, or for any other purpose, I shall offer no opinion; but I have frequently observed the insect coming to the surface, in order to take in a fresh supply, and then darting off, glistening with its silvery halo beneath the surface of the water. The cow-dung fly; also the corpulent ostrich herled body and short starling feather wing, erroneously termed the black gnat; and a small fly with whisks at the tail, the body made of a peacock's herl stripped of the fibre, with a light blue hackle--make very good flies all through this month. In small brooks communicating with the sea-in fact, such as are too small to hold anything but a few small trout, not bigger than sprats, during the summer-are, at this time, often found to contain some good-sized bull and salmon trout; which, if not in the very highest season, afford good sport to the angler, and some skill to catch too; and thus, at this time of year, excellent amusement may be found in places it is in vain to hope for any in at other. The best bait is a moderate-sized and well scoured lob worm; preserved salmon spawn also will be freely taken. Grayling continue in good season all through this month, but the larger ones do not often rise well at a fly, or, in fact, take a bait very freely. This is to be attributed, in a great degree, to the kind of waters they inhabit not being adapted to early fishing; for, sometimes, when the waters are in a good state and the weather mild, many graylings, particularly the small fry, may be taken even in February. If you use a bait, the line should be very lightly loaded, and the bait swam down the quiet parts of the pool, about midwater. A couple of small lively brandlings, and fixed on a small hook, are the most likely to insure success. Dace also may be taken by the same means. When you feel a bite, give the fish time to get the bait well into its mouth, and get the line tight with him before you strike, which you must do with a twitch. If it be a grayling, and a good one, take care and keep him from the bottom, and play him gently till he be tired out, for he will turn out well worth the labour; a heavy grayling at this time of the year is the best fish the fresh water affords. Although it is generally said that the perch is particularly abstemious in the winter months, and never bites well till the mulberry tree buds, yet this is in a great degree owing to this fish inhabiting the kinds of water that are ill adapted to angling in the early part of the year; for in quiet ditches, where the waters are clear and tranquil, I have even in February had most excellent sport in perch fishing. My plan was to fish rather deep, that is, always considerably below midwater, my bait a couple of the finest brandlings I could procure; and when the water was deep and the current inconsiderable, I generally used a float. The objection to fishing for perch at this time of year is, that they are then heavy in roe; so that, in addition to what you yourself destroy, you may prevent the reproduction of thousands; though, if the spawn of every one was to come to perfection, even the ocean, in course of time, would be incapable of containing them, as 300,000 eggs have been found in a perch of only halfa pound weight, and 992,000 in one weighing about a pound. The fact, however, is, the greater portion is destroyed by various animals that prey upon it almost as soon as it is cast into the water. But the prime fishing for this month is trolling for pike; a noble and manly amusement, which, for excitement, is scarcely to be equalled. What, indeed, can exceed the sensation of beholding, aye, and feeling, the fierce tugs of the enraged monster as he rushes forth open-mouthed and seizes boldly on the bait; not turning back affrighted like a coward on beholding you, but when unscathed by a single hook, bravely disputing the imagined prize, holding on firmly though dragged forcibly through the water, even to the very bank; and though then compelled to relinquish it, yet the very next cast seizing upon and retaining his hold as tenacious as ever. Yet, notwithstanding, that pikes run, perhaps, more boldly in this than in any other month of the year, I have found them cast away a gorge bait more frequently without pouching it, than during the latter end of autumn. This I was at first inclined to attribute to their not relishing the baits I was often compelled to employ in the early part of the spring, which were often smelts, sprats, and small herrings, it being exceedingly difficult to procure any fresh water fish adapted for the purpose at that season; but I found that even when I used dace, trout, or parrs, that the result was much the same. spring trolling, therefore, I am inclined to think that the dead snap is the most depending bait. As there are a great number of patterns of snap tackle, so almost every particular one has its advocates; the one I myself have succeeded the best with is a very simple con.. trivance it consists first of a single hook, No. 2 or 3, tied to an ordinary snead of gimp, which is baited by inserting the baiting needle in the lateral line of the bait just above the anal fin, drawing the snead and hook after it, leaving the hook just free of the incision. Another, and perhaps a better, plan for this part of the tackle is For |