Part II.] Pond Fish. 67 



destroyed all the lilies in Lake View and since that time there 

 has been neither lilies or moss in the lake. This is a great 

 misfortune, as the water has been roily and the bass and 

 other scale fish have not done so well and fishing for the 

 game fishes has not been carried on with such success and 

 eagerness as before, in the good old days before the flood. 



Lake View has always been a famous fishing place, . and 

 during the many, many collecting and fishing trips to that 

 body of water, hundreds of good catches of Black bass, crappie. 

 Calico bass, Channel cats and other kinds of fish have been 

 made; but the Lake View "sunnie," the fish of my boyhood 

 days, was not then nor never has been neglected. If any 

 body of water was ever well stocked with sunfish it was Lake 

 View. 



While others were enthusiastically casting for bass and 

 crappie, which on many occasions they were not catching, 

 the writer frequently moved his boat from place to place 

 among the lily pads, casting for "sunnies" with a light rod and 

 line with artificial fly, or perhaps a small trolling spoon with 

 or without a small bait attached. It was altogether a different 

 outfit from that used by the boy-fisherman years before, but 

 the results, and particularly the mental exhilaration, were 

 one and the same. 



A few careful casts in an open spot among the lily pads 

 with a long hair-like leader that would allow a small fly or 

 a tiny glittering spoon to strike the water with a light moving 

 and skipping motion would usually result in a swirl in the 

 surface water, showing that a "sunnie" had made a rise; 

 that is, one had from some secret hiding place made a quick 

 dash at the strange moving object. A quick, gentle pull at 

 just the right moment with a light, springy rod would usually 

 fasLO^ the hook in the fish's mouth. Now, this "sunnie" that 

 we have been angling for is no mean game fish, and for its 

 size, ounce for ounce, will put up just about as hard a fight 

 C.S any living fish, even the ever-praised brook trout not being 

 ex.^epted. How the cunning little gamester will pull and 

 tu^- at the line and instantly twist it around a lily pad ; and it 

 is only after repeated attempts that the angler under such 

 circumstances succeeds, if he succeeds at all, in getting the 

 little fighter to the surface of the water and over the lily 

 pads to the boat. Then the fish is carefully removed from the 

 hook and placed in a live-box or net. It is cruel and barbarous 

 to place fish on a stringer and drag them along the side of 

 the boat, or throw them in the boat and allow them to flop 

 around until they die, or carry them in the air and occasion- 

 ally throw them in the water until they are dead. 



Two or th^-ee hours of such sport, resulting in the capture 

 of two or thres dozen fish weighing from four to eight ounces 

 each, gives an outing and a catch of fish second to almost none 

 that could be found anywhere in the country. 



