The American Boy's Handy Book/Chapter 4
It not unfrequently happens that an amateur is unable to take advantage of most excellent fishing, for the want of proper or necessary tackle.
It may be that he is accidentally in the neighborhood of a pickerel pond or trout stream, or that his fishing tackle is lost or delayed in transit. Under such circumstances a little practical ingenuity is invaluable. If within reach of any human habitation you can, in all probability, succeed in finding sufficient material with which to manufacture not only a rod which will answer your purpose, but a very serviceable reel. To rig up a home-made trout rod, you need a straight, slender, elastic pole, such as can be found in any wood or thicket, some pins, and a small piece of wire. File off the head of several pins, sharpen the blunt ends, and bend them into the form of the letter U. At a point about two feet from the butt end of the rod drive the first pin, leaving enough of the loop above the wood to allow the fish line to pass freely through; drive the other pins upon the same side of the rod and at regular intervals. Make the tip of a piece of wire by bending a neat circular loop in the centre, and then knitting or binding the wire on the end of the pole (Fig. 35). Should you have enough wire, it will answer much better for the other loops than the pins. If at a farm-house look in the attic for an old bonnet frame, or some similar object likely to be at hand, and it will furnish you with plenty of material. Cut the wire in pieces about two and a half inches long, make a simple loop in the centre of each piece, and with a "waxed end" or strong thread bind the ends of the wire lengthwise on the rod, then give each loop a
turn, twisting it in proper position (Fig. 36). With a large wooden spool, an old tin can, and a piece of thick wire, a first-rate reel may be manufactured.
Cut a forked stick and shave off the inside flat, as in Fig. 38, cut two notches near the bottom, one upon each side; this
will allow the fork to bend readily at these points. Make a small groove for a string at the top of each prong. Put the spool between the prongs, allowing the wire to protrude through holes bored for that purpose. Bend the long end of the wire in the form of a crank. Tie a string across from end to end of the prongs to hold them in proper position, and you have a rustic but serviceable reel (Fig. 39). It may be attached to the pole in either manner shown by Figs. 40 and 41. Boys who find
pleasure in outdoor sports should always be ready with expedients for any emergency. A fish hook is rather a difficult thing to manufacture, though I have seen them made of a bird's claw bound to a piece of shell by vegetable fibre. I would not advise my readers to attempt to make one. A better plan is to always carry a supply about your person, inside the lining of your hat being a good place to deposit small hooks. For black bass, pickerel, and many other fish, live minnows are the best bait. To catch them you need a net.
A simple way to make a minnow net is to stretch a piece of mosquito netting between two stout sticks. If deemed necessary, floats may be fastened at the top and sinkers at the bottom edge of the net (Fig. 42). Coarse bagging may be used if mosquito netting is not obtainable. But with a forked stick and a ball of string for material, a jack-knife, and your fingers for tools, a splendid scoop-net can be made that will not only last, but be as good, if not better, than any you could purchase. Cut a good stout sapling that has two branches (Fig. 43). Trim off all other appendages, and bend the two branches until the ends over-lap each other for some distance, bind the ends firmly and neatly together with waxed twine, if it can be had—if not, with what string you have (Fig. 44).
Fasten the pole in a convenient position so that the hoop is about level with your face. If you want the net two feet deep, cut a number of pieces of twine seven or eight feet long, double them, and slip them on the hoop in the manner shown by the first string (Fig. 45).
Beginning at the most convenient point, take a string from each adjoining pair and make a simple knot of them, as shown
by the diagram. Continue all the way around the hoop knotting the strings together in this manner. Then commence on the next lower row and so on until you reach a point where, in your judgment the net ought to commence to narrow or taper down. Image missingFig. 45. This can be accomplished by knotting the strings a little closer together, and cutting off one string of a pair at four equidistant points in the same row. Knot as before until you come to a clipped line; here you must take a string from each side of the single one and knot them, being careful to make it come even with others in the same row. Before tightening the double knot pass the single string through, and after tying a knot close to the double one cut the string off close. (See Fig. 45 A.)
Continue as before until the row is finished, only deviating from the original plan when a single string is reached. Proceed in a like manner with the next and the next rows, increasing the number of strings eliminated until the remaining ones meet at the bottom, being careful not to let one drop mesh come directly under another of the same kind.
A scoop-net can be made of a piece of mosquito netting by sewing it in the form of a bag, and fastening it to a pole and hoop made of a forked stick like the one just described.
Minnows must be kept alive, and tin buckets, with the top half perforated with holes, are made for that purpose. These buckets, when in use, are secured by a string and hung in the water, the holes in the sides allowing a constant supply of fresh breathing material to the little fish within.
Take any tin bucket that has a lid to it and punch holes in the top and upper part with a nail and hammer, or some similar instruments. If a tin bucket cannot be had, a large-sized tin can will answer the purpose. The illustration (Fig. 46) shows a minnow bucket made in this manner. Fig. 47 shows the proper manner of baiting with a live minnow. The cartilaginous mouth of a fish has little or no feeling in it. A hook passed from beneath the under jaw through it and the upper lip will neither kill nor injure the minnow. As it allows the little creature to swim freely, there is a much greater chance of getting a bite than with a dead or mangled bait. The latter is a sign of either cruelty or ignorance on the part of the fisherman.
How natural it is to speak of a love for the sea, or an intimate acquaintance and knowledge of the ocean, when, in reality, it is only the top or surface of the water that is meant, while the hidden mysteries that underlie the billows, the sea-world proper—its scenery, inhabitants, and history—are but
partially known, except to our most learned naturalists. The occasional glimpses we have of queer and odd specimens kidnapped from this unknown realm make it natural for us to feel a curiosity to know and a desire to see the life and forms that are concealed beneath the waves.
What boy can sit all day in a boat, or upon the green shady bank of an inland stream, watching the floating cork of his fish line without experiencing a longing for some new patent transparent diving bell, in which, comfortably ensconced at the bottom of the water, he might see all that goes on in that unfamiliar country.
In the next chapter I propose to show how this natural curiosity or desire for knowledge may be gratified, not exactly by placing you at the bottom of the water, but by transporting a portion of this curious world, with its liquid atmosphere and living inhabitants into your own house, where you may inspect and study it at your leisure.