FISH AND FISHING. 



57 



woods, he blazes the trees to enable him to 

 find them again. 



This method of fishing in the woods re- 

 calls certain lines I once saw in Punch 

 apropos of the proposed introduction of 

 the American catfish into England: 



" Oh, do not bring the catfish here; 

 The catfish is a name I fear. 

 They say the catfish climbs the trees 

 And robs the hen-roosts; down the 



breeze 

 Sends the prodigious caterwaul. 

 Oh, leave him in the Western flood, 

 Where the Mississippi churns the mud. 

 Don't bring him here at all." 



There are 3 firms at Morgan City which 

 handle catfish exclusively. The fish are 

 dressed, then shipped in ice to various 

 Western States, chiefly Texas, Oklahoma, 

 Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, 

 though a good many are sent North and 

 are served in the best restaurants of Chi- 

 cago and other large cities, as " trout ten- 

 derloin." B. W. Evermann. 



A WHOLE HERD OF FISH HOGS. 



The same bunch of Stevens Point (Wis.) 

 swine, who a year ago boasted of having 

 gone to a creek near Plainfield, and, in one 

 week caught over 1,000 trout, returned to 

 the same water, a month ago, put in an- 

 other week of hard work and caught but 

 500 trout. 



That's right, piggies. Clean them out, 

 as fast as possible. Don't let one of them 

 escape. These 2 reports would seem to 

 indicate that you won't be able to get any 

 trout there next year unless the State comes 

 to your aid, meantime, and restocks the 

 stream. Then you can get another crop of 

 fingerlings. 



Here are more " records " : 



B. B. Park, C. H. Grant, and R. B. Johnson spent Sat- 

 urday and Sunday with the 4 lone fishermen, Hadcock, 

 Boston, Ball, and Sherwood, who were trout fishing at 

 Idlewild. Waushara county. In a few hours 4 of them suc- 

 ceeded in capturing 121 trout. 



H. G. Curran, E. Ruben, and Dr. Houlehan spent part 

 of Tuesday near Liberty Bluff. Marquette county, where 

 they caught 196 trout. — Stevens Point Gazette. 



Fishing is good now. White bass plentiful. One man 

 caught 136, from 9.30 A.M. to noon to-day. — Oshkosh Cor- 

 respondent. 



Truly Wisconsin is in great need of a 

 branding law. These men should all be 

 marked, so that sportsmen may know them 

 wherever found. 



Here is more of the same kind of news: 



People of this city and vicinity, who delight in catching 

 fish, have had fine sport the past week. Mpckenzie creek, 

 which enters Cannon Lake 4 miles west of Faribault, is the 

 attractive place. The finny tribe are being caught by the 



wagonload. Lines and spears are not used, but instead 

 pitchforks, corn-scoops, and shovels are used to shovel them 

 out. Several wagon boxes full of fish have been standing 

 on the market, offered for sale, many of the fish yet squirm- 

 ing. Buffalo, bullheads, and some pickerel are among the 

 catches.— Faribault (Minn.) paper, Feb. nth. 



Andrew H. Jackson, a millionaire real estate agent of 

 New York city, fished in Sand Bar creek, near Mountain- 

 dale, in company with Jacob Gunther, one of the most ex- 

 perienced fishermen of this city, to-day, and secured 142 

 trout, weighing from a quarter of a pound to one pound and 

 a half each. This is considered one of the greatest catches 

 made in years. — Middletown, N. Y., despatch to " New 

 York Herald." 



And still another: 



All other claims to the championship record, in trout-fish- 

 ing, have been thrown into the garbage-dump since John K. 

 Bryden returned from Tidioute. While there, on business, 

 this week, he was taken by William Grandin, of that place, 

 on a fishing trip to Minister creek and Queen Run. P'or 

 some reason best known to themselves the trout took to bit- 

 ing with phenomenal fury. The 2 fishers actually basketed 

 500 trout, all fine ones. So large was their catch that the 

 " sportsmen" (?) had quite a task to distribute them among 

 their friends.— "Franklin (Pa.) News." 



If any of their friends had been real 

 sportsmen they would have refused to re- 

 ceive any of the trout, or ever after to as- 

 sociate with the swine who slaughtered 

 them. Editor. 



THE FIGHT AT THE BIG HOLE. 



ELMER E. FRENCH. 



You may have fought the silver king in 

 Florida, or the salmon in Northern waters. 

 You may have captured the fierce muska- 

 longe of the St. Lawrence, and won many 

 other hard fought battles. Yet as you sit 

 by your fireside and recall happy incidents 

 that occurred afield or on the water, there 

 will rise before you the struggle with that 

 monster fish caught when you were a lad. 



When a boy, up in Maine, I had such an 

 experience. In the White mountains, un- 

 der the shadows of Mt. Whittier, lies beau- 

 tiful Lake Ossipee. From it there flows 

 Eastward the Ossipee river, which joins 

 the Saco, 20 miles below. 



My father's farm was divided by the 

 Ossipee, and the buildings were in sight of 

 the water. 



Across the river, was interval land, yield- 

 ing fine crops of hay. When it came time 

 to cut the hay, the farm hands crossed the 

 river in a boat. The stream here was about 

 8 rods wide, shallow most of the way, then 

 suddenly going off into what was called 

 the " big hole." Here trout had rendez- 

 voused for years. 



One day I stayed behind to fish this hole. 

 I had no fancy rod — just a plain pole, cut 

 in the woods, the small end as big as my 

 thumb. The line cost 5 cents, while the 

 hook was strong enough to hold anything. 



I soon had a fat grasshopper on the 

 hook, and took a seat in the boat. The 



