7 2 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



to twenty-four ounces each. Another correspondent of the same journal 

 writes as follows concerning Crappie fishing near St. Louis.* 



" Our ' Croppie,' the greatest pan-fish of the West, is highly esteemed 

 by us for the table. We have seen a monster Croppie this spring, weigh- 

 ing over three pounds, taken at Murdoch Club Lake, near St. Louis, on 

 the Illinois side. We consider one of one-and-a-half to two pounds a 

 large one. They are taken about logs and tree tops, on the water's edge, 

 in our rivers and sloughs. They are greedy fellows, but as soon as hooked, 

 step right into the boat without a struggle for liberty. 



"A gentleman of this place, a member of one of our old French families, 

 who turned the scale at about three hundred pounds, was noted for his 

 success in Croppie fishing. He would have his large flat towed to a tree ; 

 when, tied to a limb, he would settle himself for the day, on a pillow, placed 

 in a large split-bottom chair. Hauling his live box and minnow pail 

 alongside, he would bait two hooks attached to a strong line, using a weak 

 snell, so that in case the hook should foul, he could break it loose. He 

 used a float and short, stout bamboo rod and, shaking the bushes a little, 

 ' to stir up the fish,' would select an opening and carefully drop in the 

 minnow, two feet below the surface, pass the end of the rods through 

 rings in the side of the boat, light his pipe, and wait for something to 

 happen. It was not long, and after the fun began, it was the same 

 monotonous lifting out of fish, and dropping them into the live-box all 

 the day long, and was continued on the next, until he had brought to 

 creel over three hundred. 



" I have always associated in my mind the Croppie, and the love of ease 

 and quiet of our old French inhabitants. Nothing could more truly 

 represent contentment and ease than the picture of this simple-minded 

 old gentleman, on his annual Croppie fish at King's Lake." 



; " St. Louis " in American Angler, i, 312. 



