FISH AND FISHING. 



A RACE FOR A MEAL. 



J. M. BALTIMORE. 



Did you ever see a small fish so hotly 

 pursued by a larger one that, in order to 

 make good its escape, it fled to the land? 

 Singular as this may seem, I have been a 

 witness of such an incident. 



How did it happen? A party of 4 of us 

 were fishing on Silver lake, a beautiful body 

 of water in Spokane county, Wash. 



It was a scorching day in June, and all 

 of us felt lazy. The other 3 men concluded 

 they would lie around camp and not at- 

 tempt to fish in the afternoon. 



At first, I made up my mind to remain 

 at camp; but the afternoon seemed so in- 

 terminably long, that I grew restless, and 

 finally started for the lake. On reaching 

 the lake's margin I stepped into the boat 

 and pushed off. 



I kept near the shore in the shade of the 

 high, rugged rocks. Sheltered from the 

 sun, and fanned by a delightful breeze, the 

 fishing proved delightful. 



Silver lake offers only 2 varieties of fish 

 to the angler — black bass and German carp. 

 A small stream empties into the lake at the 

 Northern end, and some trout are occa- 

 sionally caught in this creek. In that way 

 a few trout find their way into the lake. 



Some years ago the lake was stocked by 

 the government with bass and carp, and the 

 fish have multiplied with great rapidity. 



Fair luck attended me that afternoon. I 

 caught 7 large bass and 2 of the much de- 

 spised carp, before the sun went down. As 

 the shadows began to lengthen, I headed 

 for the shore. Reaching a lovely stretch of 

 sandy beach, I ran the boat almost out of 

 the water. 



" Why not clean my fish right here? " I 

 said to myself. 



Out came my knife and soon I was busy 

 cleaning the catch. 



By this time the sun had set, and the 

 bosom of the lake lay in deep, purple shad- 

 ows. 



Just then my ear caught a sound, and my 

 eye a flash! I saw 2 forms in the water. 

 One was following the other; not 25 feet 

 separated them. They were fish, and, from 

 the wake, I could see one was much larger 

 than the other. Evidently, the little fel- 

 low was being hotly pressed. Both were 

 going like a shot, producing a line of foam, 

 and a loud, rippling noise. 



What could it mean? 



An instant later, the mystery was ex- 

 plained. The little fish shot alongside my 

 boat, heading straight for land. He swam 

 to within a few feet of shore, and then gave 

 a few sharp flaps with his tail, landing him- 

 self high and dry. 



But what about his pursuer? Well, he 

 followed as hard and fast as he could. Be- 

 fore he got opposite to where I was stand- 

 ing he ran aground. The water shoaled to 

 the depth of only a few inches. But, 

 strange to say, the fish kept making frantic 

 efforts to reach the land, until finally most 

 of its body was out of the water. 



I couldn't stand it any longer. I jumped 

 out of the boat and scooped in both the 

 pursued and the pursuer. The intended 

 victim proved a handsome little trout 

 about 9 inches long. The pursuer was a 

 splendid bass 16 inches long. He was 

 hungry and wanted a meal; but had he 

 overtaken the little one, could he have swal- 

 lowed him? That evening at the campfire I 

 told the story, and showed the fish as proof. 



" Its rather fishy. Professor," they all 

 said to me witlj a sort of doubting Thomas' 

 smile, " but we'll have to believe you this 

 time." 



IN DEFENCE OF MR. FOX. 



Genoa, 111. 



Editor Recreation: In your November 

 number I saw an article entitled " A Fish 

 Hog Picture," in which I think you have 

 done Mr. Julius B. Fox, of Chicago, an in- 

 justice. I will venture to say he has put in 

 many a hard day's fishing at the lake men- 

 tioned in your note, with the result of but 

 2 or 3 fish to his credit. Would you have a 

 man travel 150 miles to the fishing grounds 

 and because he happened to strike one day 

 when he could make a large catch, brand 

 him as a fish hog? Where would you have 

 him draw the line? 



It is not at all likely Mr. Fox will ever 

 duplicate that day's fishing in that lake, al- 

 though there is fairly good fishing there for 

 this vicinity. Even a good fisherman is sel- 

 dom able to make a fish hog of himself. 



I should like to ask the readers of Rec- 

 reation how many of them would stop with 

 fewer fish than Mr. Fox caught, knowing 

 that in all probability they might put in 

 many another hard day's fishing at the same 

 lake with but small results. If I am wrong 

 in this matter please set me right. 



I appreciate your efforts to put down the 

 game hog and the fish hog, but in this case 

 you did not seem to understand all the cir- 

 cumstances. 



C. A. Patterson, D.D.S. 



I cannot agree with Dr. Patterson in his 

 claim that I have wronged Mr. Fox. I re- 

 ceived a large number of clippings of this 

 same article, from as many different readers, 

 each asking me to denounce Mr. Fox; and 

 since the November number of Recrea- 

 tion appeared I have had many letters com- 



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