FISH AND FISHING. 251 



as they swallow the bait and make off at once. A large 

 hook and a strong line are indispensable, however, as they 

 pull like oxen. 



In the deep, sluggish streams of the lower third plain 

 is found the great mud cat of the Mississippi. They 

 attain an enormous size, and to my thinking are unfit for 

 food, being very coarse and tasting of mud. At Fort 

 Earned, in 1871, several were taken in a seine by some 

 of the soldiers. One of these weighed fifty-four pounds, 

 and an ordinary striped-head fresh-water turtle, eight 

 inches long, was found in his maw. 



Streams whose beds contain no running water, but in 

 which there are large and deep permanent pools, even 

 ponds, and lakelets which have no apparent outlet, are 

 frequently crowded with fish. These are usually sun fish 

 or perch, cat fish, suckers, and chub. 



It is his own fault if the plains traveller does not have 

 good sport and all the ' brain food ' he requires from the 

 plains streams. 



