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Show Real Needs There is no fair-minded sportsman, sports-man, surely, who would question the motives or sincerity of the various var-ious state game and fish divisions throughout the country, but in our own particular case we have noticed no-ticed a growing tendency on the part of such organizations to be forever rushing to state legislatures with the cry: "Give us a law!" Well, laws are necessary for game and fish conservation, but recourse to law, sometimes, instead of to commonsense, may defeat the very thing that is sought. In that connection, con-nection, here are some rules which should govern or come before the laws regulating fishing: Laws and regulations for fish must be useful; not burdensome. What one sees with his eyes in a pond, lake or stream is not what actually exists. The lake an angler thought was productive was proved to be the opposite. In like manner, they learned that the poor angling they experiencd might not be because be-cause of unproductive fish, but fishing fish-ing at the wrong time of year! It takes money to do a job. To create more fishing, such as developing de-veloping new impoundments, costs money. But it is worth it. Budgets which favored law enforcement divisions di-visions were adjusted to favor the tiny budgets of fish divisions. Many state administrators lost out to men who saw the needs of management manage-ment workers. There are more anglers "born" each day. It is a big job to meet the demands. Old methods have to be modified or tossed out the window. win-dow. Providing more and better angling does not come from guarding guard-ing a fish in a stream, but from managing that fish so it can be most productive to the angler. AAA Angler's Prayer Dear Lord, when Gabriel blows bis blast And I come home to rest at last, Don't measure me for barp and wings; Let me have, instead, these things'. Some tackle, and a rod and reel, A pair of waders and a creel, A gushing, frothy glacier stream, A placid lake by -which to dream. An angel pal with whom to angle, Magic lines that will not tangle: And permission, Lord, with fingers crossed. To lie about the fish I lost! AAA Balanced Outfits While this may appear as rankest heresy among many oldtimer anglers, an-glers, it is now a recognized fact that there is no such thing as a "balanced" fly-casting outfit: that is, perfect balancing of the equipment equip-ment at the time of purchase. Many elements enter into the reasons why this is the case. In the first . place, experimentation and experience have proved that the old formula, the reel weighing so much more than the-rod, is just so much hokum. The purveyors of that idea forgot to take into account ac-count the weight ahead of the rod when the caster has out 35 or more feet of Vne. This weight, as anyone who has experienced it can tell, means a whale of a difference if the rod-user has bought a line too heavy for his rod. As a rule, this hit-and-miss method meth-od of choosing a "balanced" outfit isn't necessary these days as a majority of rod-makers imprint on the rod the sizes of level or tapered lines which should be used on it. However, this doesn't completely take all the headache out of the outfit-balancing procedure. For instance, in-stance, not all fly lines are standard and, for another thing, nylon lines are one weight lighter than silk lines of the same letter designation. . For : stance: A D-level nylon line is only as heavy as an E-Level silk line. And so it goes. Just the same, the angler knowing know-ing the difference in the weights of nylon and silk lines, and who wishes to rely on the rod-maker's direction for the line-size to choose, will get a fairly well-balanced out-. out-. fit the first time. That is, if he forgets for-gets about the weight of the reel and remembers only that its chief function is that of a repository for the line. ' This is not to say, of course, that a fly-rod man can't overload himself in the matter of heavy, cumbersome fly reels, particularly par-ticularly in the automatic category. But, with commonsense as his guide, .and his own "feel" for the fishing instrument in his hand, he ought to be able to put together an outfit that is easy and a pleasure to use end. which will, at the same time, enable him to get the most from his fishing. AAA Did You Know? That fish are comparatively shortlived? short-lived? Most fresh-water fish seldom live more than 10 years, excepting the sturgeon which is believed to mature ma-ture at 20 or more years of age and may live 100 years or longer. That the major part of the annual an-nual crop of panfish dies without ever being caught by fishermen? Studies have revealed that less than 10 per cent of the annual crop of panfish was taken bv fishina. |