FISH AND FISHING. 



449 



ning in large numbers. The largest taken 

 this season was caught by Mr. N. F. Wil- 

 shire, of Los Angeles. It weighed 36 

 pounds, and made a long, gamy fight. Fish- 

 ing from the new jetty at Coronado has 

 been excellent. B. C. H. 



A FISH STORY. 



Between 30 and 40 years ago, the head of 

 a well known business house was expecting 

 3 friends to fish for pike, in the river above 

 Burton on Trent. Every provision had 

 been made for them, including a plentiful 

 supply of live bait. One of the best anglers 

 in the neighborhood was to accompany 

 them, but for some reason he could not go, 

 so he sent his son, a lad of about 13 years, 

 to fill his place. 



Owing to the muddy condition of the 

 river, sport was poor, and the anglers com- 

 menced to tell fish stories for the benefit of 

 their guide. He took all in as if he be- 

 lieved it. A little while after they made a 

 move to another part of the river, and one 

 of the 3 asked the boy if he remembered 

 anything connected with that particular 

 part. ." Oh, yes," said the boy. " Once a 

 gentleman was going to have a dinner party 

 and wanted a pike of 12 pounds or over. 

 He asked my father to get it the next morn- 

 ing, if he could. We were here at daylight 

 and tried the river all the way from where 

 we started this morning to this spot, be- 

 fore we got a fish. Then we got one each. 

 Mine weighed about 7 pounds; dad's about 

 4. It was then getting on toward noon, so 

 father said I had better take the fish home, 

 and he would try a little longer. The 2 

 fish were put in a sack and I started for 

 town with them, the fish jumping and kick- 

 ing all the way. When I got to the house, 

 the butler was in the kitchen. 



"Hello, Charles," he said; "did you get 

 the pike?" 



" Well, no, not exactly. We got small 

 ones," I replied. 



" Well, turn them out," said he. 



I emptied the bag. Instead of 2 fish, 

 there was only one, and we could just see 

 the tail of the other hanging out of its 

 mouth." 



"Oho!" said one of the anglers, "the 

 big one had eaten the little one." 



" No, no," said Charles, " don't be in 

 too big a hurry. It was the little one had 

 eaten the big one." 



S. Howarth, Florissant, Col. 



ANOTHER HERD OF BRISTLEBACKS. 

 A subscriber at Portage, Ohio, sends me a 

 newspaper clipping which reads as follows: 



Catawba Island, O., Aug. i6.-Wm. T. Todd, his 

 wife and little boy, of Pittsburg, guests at the 

 Pittsburg house, and a Mr. Bumgardner and some 

 friends, of Toledo, guests at the West house, went 

 fishing, Saturday. They caught so many white 

 bass that they overloaded their boats, and the 

 water rolled in and swamped them. They clung to 

 the boat and were washed upon the North shore of 



Mouse island, where men from Captain Rogers' 

 boathouse rescued them. 



I wrote Mr. Todd, asking him if this 

 statement was correct, and he referred my 

 letter to Mr. J. P. Cangney, proprietor of 

 the Catawba Island House, Catawba Island, 

 Ohio, who replies under date of August 27th 

 as follows: 



Dear Sir: I have before me your letter to 

 W. T. Todd, Pittsburg, Pa. Mr. Todd has 

 been spending his summer vacations here 

 for the past 17 years. Mr. Todd, wife, and 

 little boy were out fishing as reported; but 

 it was at Catawba Island, and they were 

 guests at my house. They caught several 

 hundred white bass, with hook and line and 

 white rag for bait. Then they tried to land 

 on the rough shore of Mouse island. The 

 boat was too heavily loaded with fish and 

 the 3 people, and the waves soon filled the 

 boat and washed all ashore. 



When I went to their rescue I found Mr. 

 Todd in the water trying to save all the fish 

 he could. His boat was full of water. We 

 got his wife and boy, and the crew of an- 

 other boat that was in the same fix, all in 

 other boats and landed them safe on Cataw- 

 ba island dock. We then got their boats off 

 the beach and no harm was done only a 

 good wetting and loss of lots of fish. Still, 

 they saved bushels of them and had an ex- 

 citing experience. 



Come up and have some sport catching 

 white bass and you will know just how it is. 

 Yours truly, 



J. P. Cangney. 



Here are fish hogs with bristles of un- 

 known length. A man who will endanger 

 the lives of his wife and children for the sake 

 of catching " bushels " of fish certainly de- 

 serves the muddiest and filthiest corner of 

 the whole corral. — Editor. 



PUZZLE FOR PLATTE RIVER FISHERMEN. 



While fishing in the Platte, near Pine Grove, 

 Sunday, Mr. J. P. Lower landed a 12-inch speckled 

 trout, an examination of which not only baffles the 

 skill of scientists, but may cause some changes in 

 the laws of Colorado relative to the season for 

 catching trout. The stomach of the fish (a female) 

 not only contained a piece of red granite about the 

 size of a nickel, but enough eggs to fill a large 

 tablespoon. Trout are supposed to spawn in the 

 spring and fall, and how this one came to be with 

 spawn at this season of the year is the mystery. 



The matter was brought to the attention of Mr. 

 E. L. Hager, superintendent of the state fish hatch- 

 ery. " It is a most remarkable case," he said. 

 " Had the fish been caught in one of the colder 

 mountain streams the delay in spawning might 

 have been accounted for, as the temperature of the 

 water has much to do with such matters. The 

 water in the Platte near Pine Grove after May 1 

 ranges in temperature from 52 to 55 degrees, and in 

 such case the fish should have spawned the latter 

 part of last April. The only way I can account 

 for the phenomenon is a closing of the vent by 

 decayed eggs. If this is the case the fish would 

 have died had it not been caught." 



Rocky Mountain News. 



If the statements made above be true, 

 there is nothing very strange about it. The 

 eggs, if found in the stomach of the fish, 



