170 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Maeoh 20, 1890. 



m mfd lt£iv$T fishing. 



THAT TEXAS GAR. 



I \LD yon ever catch a gar? Do they flourish up your 

 ±J way? I have fished in the waters of the States of 

 Michigan and New York and Ohio, but I never saw one 

 there, and when in my youthful days I used to coax the 

 finny tribe in the Old' Dominion I never caught sight of 

 one there. But we have a few down here in southwestern 

 Texas, and I can say from experience that "for ways that 

 are dark and tricks that are vain, the Texas garfish is 

 peculiar." 



Webster defines the gar as-of the genus Lepidosteus, a 

 fish of the pike or Esox family, of the genus Belone, hav- 

 ing a long pointed head with rhombic scales. He further 

 says that gar means dart, spear or lance, and the name 

 is applied to the fish on account of its long and slender 

 body and pointed head. This is all as clear as mud to an 

 average Texan accustomed to the ways of this fish of 

 fishes, but the only part of the definition that we can 

 unreservedly subscribe to is that describing the shape, 

 and 1 am certain that father Noah, before he got up that 

 big spelling book, had never made himself familiar with 

 the gar of Texas, or he would have described him perhaps 

 somewhat after tin's fashion: 



A long, slim, impudent, predatory fish of the genus 

 XipltiaH gladius, with eyes that never wink, courage that 

 never quails, ways that are always exasperating, and 

 above all the especial delight (speaking in a mildly ironi- 

 cal strain) of the fisherman. With a skin and scales that 

 bird shot at 40yds. will not penetrate, a bold disregard of 

 all hooks, a fiendish delight in taking the bait of tire 

 black bass fisherman, the appetite of an ostrich, and the 

 strength of a two horse power steamboat, when in his 

 native element ; with short, sharp teeth the full length of 

 the long snout or bill, sharp as a cross-cut saw, and on 

 both the upper and lower jaw, the lower teeth fitting into 

 the indentations of the upper, and the proudest trophy of 

 the successful fisherman, because so difficult to catch and 

 keep, and so utterly reckless of danger. 



When out gunning no sportsman will allow a lar ge 

 hawk to escape, and upon the same principle we make 

 war on the gar, because he is so destructive of the small 

 fish, and further because he is so exceedingly difficult to 

 capture with hook and line. And then there is as rare 

 sport in taking one as can be gotten out of the most ex- 

 citing game fish killing. One grows to admire the scamp 

 in a way. He is annoying sometimes, it is true; but 

 when a particularly bold fellow has cut half a dozen 

 lines for you, or broken half a dozen hooks, or in a rush 

 snapped your rod in the secmd joint and derisively 

 switched up his tail, lashing the water as he darted off, 

 leaving you defeated and disheartened, you begin to feel 

 as if life as a fisherman was not worth living, so long as 

 that fellow could thus defy you: and thoughts of venge- 

 ance fill your mind, and resolves that promise trouble 

 for your foe. 



Now to tell my tale, 1 will have to circumnavigate 

 somewhat, and don't be impatient if I have to weave the 

 web so as to make you appreciate my story. 



When I was a boy and a particularly unsavory dish 

 was to be described, it would be said (the Lord knows 

 where the saying came from), "It is as mean as gar broth 

 thickened with tadpoles." I never saw nor heard of one 

 being cooked, but my acquaintance with them leads me 

 to believe that hawk soup would be a dainty dish beside 

 stewed gar. It goes without saying, therefore, that no 

 one angles for them for food. Some do for revenge, as 

 witness my tale. 



The game fish par e-xeellence of Victoria county is the 

 black bass, which grows to 5'fljs, or Gibs, in size some- 

 times. I am going to keep within the strict limits of the 

 truth as to the size, even if I am a fisherman. This fish 

 is in some places in our county found in great abundance, 

 and the average weight is from -Sib. to the above-men- 

 tioned limit. Annanias. the president of our club, was 

 around the other day, and said that he had caught an 

 81b. bass., but, between ourselves, I did not believe him. 

 So abundant is this fish in our favored creeks and bayous, 

 that a short time since a lot of New Orleans, Galveston 

 and Fort Worth lawyers, being in our little city of Vic- 

 toria, and having an off day in court, after a day spent 

 iu pursuit of these toothsome beauties of the waters, hav- 

 ing taken them until they were tired; having at mid- 

 night spouted poetry upon the bridge that spanned the 

 bayou; been bathed in the moonshine, bright as day; 

 having exhausted their eloquence and the liquid inspira- 

 tion; having hunted all nightin vain for asingle mosquito, 

 and having brought home, like the little Bo-Peep black 

 sheep, three bags full, yea, six bags full, unanimously 

 voted, resolved and declared, that there was not another 

 spot in the United States whero as many and as fine fish 

 could be caught in the same length of time; and one ven- 

 erable, asthmatic but enthusiastic New Orleans fisherman 

 and lawyer, who loves "God's first temple" with a gen- 

 uine devotion, affirmed that "in the North that stream 

 would be worth thousands of dollars, and a club house 

 would be forthwith erected on its banks." 1 am sure if it 

 were near New Orleans he would invest, because he de- 

 clared that in New Orleans he could not take off his coat 

 without a spell of asthma-, but here he had slept on the 

 ground out in the open air without any ill result. For 

 myself I don't want to see this stream become the private 

 property of any corporation, even of the kindly guild of 

 fishermen, because hundreds of our citizens now enjoy a 

 day on its green and shady banks, who might be cut off 

 from their sport if a club were to appropriate. The 

 present generous owner, a wealthy stockman, welcomes 

 every one, and loves to have his friends come and enjoy 

 the sport. 



It is on this bayou that the scene of my gar adventure 

 is laid. In the fishing season parties frequently go there 

 to fish, as may be presumed, and being a lover of the 

 sport, as often as consistent with business engagements, 

 I go, too. I am not easily tired out. I love to hunt the 

 bass and to overcome his shyness and take advantage of 

 his curiosity, and in fair contest, take him unto myself. 

 I have hunted him with the phantom minnow, tha t cheat 

 and delusion ; I have dazzled his quick sharp sight with 

 the gay and festive fly ; I have coaxed him with the more 

 solid and real temptation of a live perch, or moreplebian 

 still, a section taken from the side of one, I have taken 

 him with ail these baits, finding generally the live min- 

 now the best bait, but have caught him in abundance 

 with tire cut bait, and have had him jump end catch and 



run with the one as gamily as with the other, and have 

 fought his frantic and vigorous attempts to escape in all 

 kinds of places and under all sorts of difficulties, and 

 have been defeated, too, by him many a time, as he 

 would whirl around a clump of lilies or dart under a 

 fallen snag, or shake himself free of the hook as he 

 turned when being held in with limber pole, and for a 

 moment got a slack fine. But upon this bayou there 

 was one pool dear to my heart, where I have caught as 

 many as seven or eight fine large game shiny ones in 

 half an hour. I am not going to tell where it is, cannot 

 "give it away," you know. It is my particular hunting 

 ground, away from the haunts of men, away down in 

 the bend of the bayou, large moss-hung live oaks spread- 

 ing their arms over the green grass of the dry bank; full 

 clear sweep for rod and line; wide clear water lying still 

 and black in the shadows; stream so wide and clear of 

 bushes, fallen timber and snags, that with perfect free- 

 dom one could sweep a phantom minnow the full length 

 of the line in one cast, or tip a fly almost a dozen rods 

 away without entangling line or hook, a place where the 

 trees gave you a delicious shade and the mocking birds 

 sported and sang in the boughs, and so far away from 

 the prairie through the open glades of the woods that 

 even through the long vista's of trees, no glimpse of 

 waving grass or long-horned cattle could, be caught, and 

 so retired that the black ducks swam fearlessly and con- 

 tentedly within 50yds. of where' on a high-lying twisted 

 root I sat as I threw my line. The ducks were secure. 1 

 never hunt when I , fish. When I hunt I hunt, and when 

 I fish I fish, and never encumber myself with both gun 

 and tackle at the same time. This particular spot then 

 was and is dear to my heart, and though it takes an 

 eighteen-mile journey to reach it, and generally involves 

 a camp bed and a fish supper, I never regret a trip to its 

 serpiestered banks. 



One more word of description of its charms. It was 

 literally alive also with perch, with a sprinkling of the 

 strawberry bass and goggle-eye. Once a party of ten of 

 us went down there to the bayou and fished for perch as 

 well as bass, and when we got home we had 1,200 fish. I 

 would not tell the story for fear that I would be immedi- 

 ately run for president of our Annanias Club, but avoided 

 the statement and got our banker, who was one of the 

 party, who is an elder in the church, and whose six-year- 

 old son caught 100, to state the. number, and it was only 

 after he had put it at 1,200 actual count and calculation 

 that I backed him up. 



Well, to this favored spot one day I fonnd had been 

 attracted one of the aforesaid Xiphias gladivx, a veri- 

 table gladiator of the waves, and I fancied the first time 

 I saw him that he was sleek and fat on the blood of the 

 innocent perch, and horrible to conceive, had perhaps 

 made more than one pass at the smaller bass as they 

 slipped past him, mayhap leaving the scar of his stroke 

 on side or back, He seemed about 3ft. long. I am cau- 

 tious now. His glassy eye annoyed me; his lazy floating 

 skim of the water as he turned this way and that in full 

 sight of me exasperated me. He was not at all annoyed 

 at my being there: in fact in a sort of triumphant way he 

 seemed to enjoy that fact. Perhaps it was in anticipa- 

 tion of the contest with me and cruel defeats and the 

 many defeats he was to give me. He seemed to be rather 

 interested in my proceedings, too, and in his own leisurely 

 way began to investigate matters. I had a fine string of 

 buss in the water near my feet, all alive. First they 

 seemed to interest him. With my line far out I had a 

 strike and a dive from a fine bass, and was giving my 

 attention to him, when I saw out of the corner of my eye 

 his lordship turn swiftly with a whisk of his strong' tail 

 to see the cause of the disturbance, and then he disap- 

 peared. I had captured my fish, and was about to put 

 him on the string, when I caught a glimpse of my 

 enemy approaching my fish, and quick as a flash he 

 made a pass at them, when my near approach frightened 

 him away. I lifted the string and found the lowest one 

 on it wounded. After this I had to watch my fish to 

 prevent his again attacking them. Toward the latter 

 part of the morning I found that he had sunk to deeper 

 water and was interested in my bait, and I felt inclined 

 to give him a tussle, so that I allowed it to remain still 

 for awhile, and he pecked away at it. dancing the bob up 

 and down like a perch giving a Btrong nibble. At last he 

 slowly sunk the float and began lazily to go off with the 

 bait. When I thought he had fast hold I gave a sharp 

 quick stroke and landed my hook, I suppose, in the hard 

 bony bill somewhere. It was a long-shanked Carlisle 

 hook, double-gutted and a strong silk line. 



As soon as he felt the point of the hook, all his slug- 

 gishness was at an end, and he made a furious rush, 

 which tested both the strength of my line and the temper 

 of my rod, but both came through the test safely, and hav- 

 ing succeeded in turning him away he went on the other 

 tack, and I could feel the pressure of his jaws on the gut 

 as he sought to cut the line, a favorite maneuver of a gar 

 when caught, but the gut was too tough for him, and on 

 the second turn he swung himself around, apparently 

 trying to stand on his head, and at once my line flew out 

 of the water. He had broken the hook short off at the 

 turn. 



I put on a new hook, and now considerably roused 1 

 determined to try and catch him. He seemed wary for 

 a while and shy* but soon came again with his pecking 

 nibble, and after some time ducked the bob under and 

 away he went, this time with more life than before. I 

 gave him full play for a while, knowing that the only 

 way to take him was in getting the hook fast in his mouth 

 low down in the corner, where it is not protected by the 

 hard bony formation of the snout, and where it could be 

 sunk deep enough to hold him. Once more I stopped 

 him Avith a jerk. Again we had a hard fight of it, and 

 in his writhmgs he flashed his tail out of the water and I 

 saw that on the upper side a part of the tail fin had been 

 cut away. He was marked, if not branded. I wanted 

 lo take him greatly. I fought harder to get him out than 

 1 ever did for a lib bass. I got him near to shore, and 

 had his head clear of the water, when again he gave a 

 furious contortion of the body, and as ill luck would 

 have it. he managed to cut or break the gut close to the 

 hook, and away he went once more, leaving me baffled 

 and defeated. * I saw him no more that day, but did not 

 forget him all the way home. I wished I had a gun. I 

 thought of carrying one the next time I went, and hugged 

 myself as I thought how he would look with a Bhot hole 

 through him; but gradually brighter thoughts took pos- 

 session of me, and before I went again I had forgotten 

 hioi entirely, never expecting to see htm again, 



^ In a week or two, however, I went to the same place 

 again. Now, I have said that I did not expect to see him 

 again, because I had often seen them elsewhere in other 

 fine fishing streams in our county; and while I had seen 

 gars before in the same streams twice in succession, I had 

 never heen able to identify them. But this particular 

 gar. Shades of my ancestors! not long after I arrived at 

 my favorite place, and almost as soon as my line had 

 touched the water, here came the robber and murderer, 

 sailing lazily along in the clear water, and to my surprise 

 I recognized that notched tail and knew that he was here 

 again. I avoided him for some time. I trolled my bait, 

 avoiding letting it remain still for any length of time, and 

 then I fished with a fly. He seemed more alert and 

 active this morning than I had ever noticed him. He 

 even attempted a strike at my fly. When I put on a bob 

 and fished deeper, he struck viciously at the bob, allow- 

 ing the line to slip through his mouth as I drew it away. 

 I had one or two trials of his prowess that day, ending 

 always in defeat and disaster for me. Once he ran my 

 line far across the stream and fastened it at the end of 

 many yards of line (perforce let off the reel to save it and 

 him) in a fallen tree, and then triumphantly broke away, 

 and I lost sinkers, hook and several feet of line and my 

 bob. 



From this time on that beast of a fish became a regular 

 Mle noire to me. I never went to that pool that 1 did 

 not see him or fancy I saw him. Often and often I tried 

 to land him and failed. He was the ghost at the feast, 

 the sword of Damocles ever hanging over me and spoil- 

 ing my sport there. I came to watch for him and to 

 anticipate his coming, and sometimes, too, to speed his 

 going with the sharp point of my hook. But he always 

 got the advantage of me, and to me seemed to be larger 

 and stronger each time that I watched him and hated 

 him. Impudent and bold and courageous, he appeared 

 to my excited fancy to defy me and. to glory over my 

 repeated defeats, and it came to a pass where I could no 

 longer dismiss him from my fancy or my thoughts. I 

 looked for him every trip, and felt as if it had come to 

 this, that either I must surrender the pool to him or ho 

 to me. Must I surrender this choice and lonely and 

 lovely pool to a vile gar ? It was not to be thought of. I 

 would kill him with a rifle. I would take my place on 

 that shore, rifle in hand and finger on trigger, and when 

 he was in the act of taking some tempting bait left on 

 the surface of the water for him I would blow his vile 

 head off, even if I had to take a whole day for it. 



But upon reflection I concluded that that would not do. 

 It was doubtful if I could ever get a shot, and then it 

 was taking an unfair advantage of him. Let me meet 

 him on, or in, his own element, and vanquish him there 

 or not at all. But how ? I at last resolved upon a cam- 

 paign having him in view and nothing else. My friends 

 could catch the other fish. I announced to them my de- 

 termination to conquor or go dinnerless. I wanted no 

 company. I entreated them to steer clear of this particu- 

 lar spot for the day and give me a fair chance, and if I 

 did not get him this time I would give it up finally and 

 forever and acknowledge my defeats 



I provided myself with three or four of the strongest 

 catfish hooks I could find, and whetted them sharp as 

 needles. To the hook I fastened about two feet of pike 

 wire-wound line, warranted to resist the operation of a 

 cross-cut tenon-saw for three minutes. I got the heavi- 

 est bamboo rod I could find, an old one I had laid aside, 

 and sawed off three feet of the limber end, so thai 1 

 could lift him right out of the water as soon as I had 

 fastened him. I took this rig and my ordinary line and 

 rod. When I arrived at the fishing place I fastened the 

 rod securely to the bank, threw out the bait, a small 

 perch, and waited. For some time he did not appear, 

 and I went on fishing with my ordinary fine and rod. 

 catching a fe^f fish, until at last he did come. He swam 

 along low down in the water, very near the bait set for 

 him: and I thought it would attract him, but he seemed 

 not to notice it, at least there was no indication by the 

 line that he had touched the bait. But as usual he be- 

 came interested in my bait, and soon began to make 

 efforts to peck it off. He got one or two baits from my 

 hook without making much effort beyond nibbling, and 

 1 was unable to touch him with the point of my hook, 

 Tired of this at last T laid aside my bass rod and line, and 

 taking the heavier line and pole began to fish with all 

 my might for that gar. More than once I thought the 

 decisive moment had come, to find that just as 1 was 

 ready to fasten him, as I thought, the bob would float up 

 serenely to the top of the water, again showing that he 

 had released his hold. Then I began to tantalize him. 

 I woidd allow a few nibbles and then pull the bait away 

 from him. He would follow and repeat his nibbles, and 

 I would repeat my tantalizing tactics. He seemed to be- 

 come slightly aggravated at the way the bait continued 

 to elude his grasp, and his nibbles became more pro- 

 nounced, and I smiled. Fate, thought I, is at last ap- 

 proaching you, oh my enemy! More tantalizing, more 

 indignation on his part, more wariness on my part, more 

 boldness on his. At last he seemed to have fully deter- 

 mined to have that little fish, now half torn to pieces 

 with his sharp bill, or die. The time had come for the 

 decisive assault, and with a rush he has caught it anil 

 sails away, almost with the lightning rapidity of a bass. 

 But now came the moment for which 1 had waited and 

 watched so long. A sharper, heavier jerk than usual, 

 and I had him, and now without a moment's delay 1 

 swung him, heavy as he was, clear of the water and ten 

 feet on the other side of me on land. 



Well, as he laid there writhing with that hook sunk in 

 the corner of his mouth and his long pointed mouth 

 champing that wire line, I think the acme of delight was 

 reached by the lone fisherman, and I suppose David did 

 not look upon the headless body of his Goliah with feel- 

 ings much different from mine when I realized that I had 

 at last conquered in that long strife. He was 4ft. long 

 from tip of that notched tail ro the end of that pointed 

 mouth, and those unwinking eyes stared at me still while 

 I put him to death with a well-aimed thrust at the base 

 of the crafty brain that had defied me so long. He was 

 rather heavy, but I carried him to camp to attest my 

 triumph, and as I recounted my long contest with him 

 and his repeated victories over me, we drank my health 

 and peace to his departed manes, standing, with mint and 

 the best old Saratoga to be had in the party's supplies. 



And this is the true story of that gar. 

 'But," quoth Williams, reflectively, as he pushed the 

 dead fish with the toe of his boot, "It is very doubtful 

 after all if the catch was worth the trouble and effort 



