308 



THE CAT FISH. 



An esteemed friend who would infinitely prefer the capture 

 of a single trout or black basse, to the taking of a cart-load of 

 cat fish, thus discourseth of his first and last lake cat fish. 



" I have taken the cat fish but once, and , on that occasion 

 used a long, strong hand line, heavy sinker, and No. 1 Lime- 

 rick salmon hook. I baited, as one would a mouse trap, with 

 a bit of toasted cheese. I fished at night, and the result of this 

 scientific procedure was a cat fish weighing seventeen and a 

 half pounds. My ambition was satisfied. I have never 

 repeated the experiment. A great many are taken by the dock 

 fishers at night in this manner from the wharves (Detroit). 

 The baits are toasted cheese, chicken guts, and raw liver, or 

 beef. The latter, impregnated with asafoetida, is said by the 

 knowing ones to be the best of the lot. These fish suck the 

 bait in, rather than bite, giving a tremulous motion or series 

 of little jerks to the line, much in the way an eel takes the bait. 

 They are vigorous, exceedingly tenacious of life, and when 

 ' laid to the land' denote their satisfaction by frequent groans 

 and grunts. A year or two since whilst basse fishing (from 

 the government wharf at SpringwelPs, three miles below the 

 city of Detroit) with a friend, he took a cat fish weighing 

 twenty-two pounds, with a live minnow, on a single gut ; 

 subsequently the same gentleman caught several others of as 

 great weight with the minnow, by casting in very deep water 

 and suffering the bait to lie on the bottom. 



" In the hands of an experienced cook the lake cat fish 

 makes a dish fit for the gods ! It should be parboiled to 

 extract the oil, then stuffed and roasted ' a la dindon.'" 



