OPEN WATER AHEAD

Anyone who has ever stood in a trout stream and felt the compelling pull of fast water on his waders, or felt the blood-rousing strike of a hungry bass, is apt to be a confirmed fisherman forever after.

If he has also seen the frenzied boil of water as a hook sets firmly, or merely lazed in a boat with a line in his hand, he has discovered what Izaak Walton called the "poetry" of fishing, and has reveled in its "large measure of hope and patience."

This week, across the U.S., fresh-water fishermen from barefoot boy to caravan-equipped sportsmen were polishing spinners, varnishing rods, tying flies, oiling reels, patching creels. Some 20 million strong, they were prepared to spend $1 billion on gear, gasoline, guides and other expenses this year in the U.S.'s No. 1 participant sport. Some were already catching fish.

From Salmon to Smelt. With ice out, landlocked salmon were striking ferociously in Maine. Down through New England and the North Atlantic seaboard, the trout seasons opened with a flush of high water and goodly bags of 15-inchers. Michigan fishermen were out by the thousands, dropping night crawlers, minnows and plugs into the cold water. Some Michigan devotees, in non-trout waters, were taking so-called "rough fish," e.g., carp and suckers, by an ancient method: lantern fishing with a bow & arrow. Chicagoans were dipping for smelt along the lakefront, and Mississippians were getting ready to "hand-grab" for catfish.

But the serious fresh-water fishermen--and no one can be more deadly serious--will not be concentrating on anything as trivial as catfish or smelt as the season rolls along. Their chief targets will be trout, bass (large-& smallmouthed), muskellunge, perch, chain pickerel and northern pike (see color page).

Happy Fishing Grounds. As usual, some of the best waters for big bass should be the lakes of the Southeast, especially Alabama and Georgia. But bass bugs will also be bobbing happily in two huge, new man-made lakes, where careful conservation and fine feed-beds produce topflight fishing; Arizona-Nevada's Lake Mead and the Dale Hollow Reservoir shared by Kentucky and Tennessee. Wisconsin and Minnesota fishermen, with nearly 20,000 lakes to choose from, are itching for more battles with the monster muskies (record catch: 69 Ibs. 11 oz.).

The best trout waters will once more be those of the Rockies and Far West. Since many of them will be closed till next month, Western fishermen were able to abide news of the 15-inchers in the East last week only by reflecting on the 15-lb. Kamloops lurking in Idaho's famed Pend Oreille Lake, and the wily rainbows in the streams of Colorado, Montana, Oregon and northern California.

The postwar increase in fresh-water fishing is shown by the license figures, which have increased about 7% annually, and are expected to hit 18 million this year. This has meant a bonanza for tackle manufacturers, whose sales last year came to $110 million. Some postwar trends: nylon lines, Plexiglas rods, and spinning reels which enable the rankest amateur to cast without backlashes.

There have been few innovations in artificial lures. Here, fish and fishermen both seem to be traditionalists, and many standard trout-fly patterns range back over five centuries. Still high among the fisherman's standbys are the red and white Parmacheene Belle and the white-bodied, yellow-tailed Royal Coachman. Bass and muskie lures, usually gang-hooked, are designed to imitate minnows, and minnows and their imitations look very much alike year after year.

Whatever tackle a man may assemble, he still must face one inescapable fact: nowadays, say the statisticians of the Sport Fishing Institute, it takes one man-hour to catch one fish in U.S. lakes and streams. Moreover, man-hour time is increasing, while fish are decreasing. What is more, creel counts show that the expert anglers --the top 10%-- catch about 50% of all the fish taken. Undismayed by statistics, the average angler will turn out as usual, buoyed by Izaak Walton's "large measure of hope and patience."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.