Fishermen Need Common Sense: Ignorance of Human Nature and Arrogance Are Serious Drawbacks., Daily Racing Form, 1918-12-21

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FISHERMEN NEED COMMON SENSE Ignorance cf Human Nature and Arrogance Are Serious Drawbacks There are men today who are wasting their time on an unsolvable problem calld perpetual motion and the false idea possessing them will never get out of their heads until a few cays before they are buried Others are working overtime on a mis ¬ conceived idea that all men are built alike alikeThese These believe or at least imagine their way of doing things is perfection and by continually trying to force others to adopt their methods lose sight of the individuality of men Lacking foresight and hindsight they show the profpundest ignorance of human nature declares Peter A Farley in the New York Sun SunThey They have become endeared to a fad and call themselves sportsmen They probably are but surely not representative ones They prate about the nicety of fly casting about me finished way of angling for trout or bass throw out their inept re ¬ marks against all anglers outside of their select class and end nil their chatter by implying that other methods of catching these game fish are un ¬ sportsmanlike sportsmanlikeIt It is time to write about the art of fly fishing in fact nothing is more pleasing to read than a fiue description of this art But whoa an attempt is made to saddle it on fishermen who havent the patience or perseverance to master it the whole description loses its luster lusterIn In this grand world of ours there are four distinct class of men the nervous and temperamental the phlegmatic or sluggish the happygolucky and the calm cool and painstaking The first are quick impulsive and high strung the second are cold and hard to arouse the third take tilings as they come and the fourth are deliberate careful and exact exactTaking Taking into consideration the above classification can it not be plainly seen that men of different natures never could agree as to the methods in fishing fishingNow Now a good fly caster through either natural ability and dexterity ox constant practice has entered a select class an educated class as it were lie lias caste which may be inborn or acquired whereas a bait fisherman may lack all the qualifi ¬ cations that are in the fine fly fisherman and in consilience is relegated so it seems and put in the humble class He cannot get out of it because lie fails to see or grasp the meaning of the word finesse So the science of the beautiful loses him himTEMPERAMENTAL TEMPERAMENTAL MEN GOOD CASTERS CASTERSNervous Nervous temperamental men can be clever fly casters they usually are among the best Fly cast ¬ ing is the thing their nature craves it rests them in a sort of reflex manner by the excitement it affords To be alert watchful and careful being absolutely necessary they are lulled jj the fixed attention to what they are doings This kind of a man would not enjoy bait fishing Can fishingCan anyone picture a phlegmatic man wading a stream and casting a fly Men built along these lines are slow in movement would rather sit in a boat and stillfish or stand on the bank and trail a worm They want no exertion to cause rapidity in the way of blood tingling instead to take it easy and rest a while is their motto To force fly cast ¬ ing on those men would be a little easier than teaching a wooden Indian to talk Yet these same men are sportsmen in every sense and meaning of the word If anyone disputes this tell me why whyThere There is a class of fishermen who like to lounge around who are fond of companionship on their fishing trips and who when eatin time is near exclaim Hang the fisfiflets eat Whether eatWhether they catch one or more fish never worries them they are out for a good time and get it These are the dont give a slam kind who will try anything once and if the once is enough will go back to their own methods with contented minds llappysolucky fellows whom we all might well envy envyIn In the fourth class we find entirely different types than the three abovementioned Here we find consistency and persistency going hand in hand with sound common sense These are the knights of the fishing clan who refrain from criticisms who will fight for their own as well as the rights of others othersThese These my brother anglers are the true disciples of Izaak Walton a bait and fly fisherman if it pleases them to cast the fly they do it and do it well if bait is more attractive to the fish on the day fished they never hesitate to use it Shrewd ¬ ness is their middle name and squareness is their game Never do they howl about whats good for one is good for another or throw out by the mouthful empty declamations against bait or plug fishing nor do they attempt to describe the beauties of fly fishing in such a yay as to show their utter contempt for less aspiring fishermen American Field


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1918122101/drf1918122101_6_3
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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800