368 
FOREST AND STREAM* 
[May io, 1902, 
"A Catfish Run/' 
I have often thought of writing for the Forest and 
Stream the following account of a bass fishing trip, 
where no bass were caught, but catfish galore ; but the 
possibility that some of your readers would say, "What 
kind of sportsmen were those who went out for bass and 
contented themselves with catfish?" has always acted as a 
check until I read the "Catfish" items in the last April 
number, and from that I received the courage to give you 
a catfish experience. 
Having no standard classification of the different kinds 
of catfish in the Cottonwood River, I will give the local 
names here, as the blue cat, the flathead cat, the yellow 
cat, the channel cat, and the spotted swallowtail cat; and 
in all my experience I have never found any kind of fish 
that would put up a longer or harder fight than a six 
to ten pound catfish of the last named kind in swift water ; 
and what with his shapely body, dark back, light cqlored 
sides, spotted with dark spots on the lighter ground work 
of the sides, and a mackerel or swallowtail, were it not 
for his ugly head and horns, no fish could show up to 
better advantage than one of this kind will as he nobly 
fights for his liberty, darting across the current, and 
making every ounce of his weight seem about ten pounds 
in the strain on the rod, reel and line. Even after he is 
safely landed, he is not subdued, but "sends forth his pro- 
tests in low sounds, best described as a mixture of barks 
and grunts. 
In the month of August, 1892, Geo. Walker, the United 
States Marshal of Kansas, his brother Ed, my son 
Robert, and myself; left Topeka for the Cottonwood 
River on a fishing trip to catch black bass, after waiting 
many days to get just the right kind of weather when 
the "bass would bite." Proceeding forty miles on the 
way, we were laid out by the cheering news of a bad 
wreck of a freight train ahead of us — not only figuratively, 
but literally laid out, for our train was sidetracked at 
Osage City for two hours, and then we were ordered 
west by the Lyndon cut-off, which took us thirty miles 
in a southeast direction to get upon the track of the 
Emporium cut-off, and then we again went west, arriving 
at Elmdale in time for a late supper. Then we were able 
to bargain with a liveryman who took us one and a half 
miles to the river at Shipman's Mill, and on our arrival 
there, just at dusk, we found that our selected time for 
Topeka was a poor time for the Cottonwood River, for 
a local shower on some of the tributaries of the river 
or near its headwaters had caused an eighteen-inch rise in 
•the river and discolored the water. 
While we were canvassing the outlook and deciding if 
we would give up the attempt to fish or not, our driver 
decided for us by returning to town. 
Thereupon we rigged up our light bamboo rods; and 
first with all the noted bass flies, then phantom minnows, 
and then spoon hooks, fished all about, above and below 
the mill dam without a rise or a strike, until, tired out, 
we sought a place to sleep, only to find that the occupants 
of all the few houses near the mill had long since retired 
and we were shut out. Then we tried to enter the mill, 
but found it securely closed, and then my son entered 
a shed, where, lighting a match, he made the discovery 
that the shed was partly filled with corncobs, and then he 
called us with glad tones in his voice, "Here's a good 
place to sleep with a good bed for each of us." 
Entering the shed by the light of several matches, we 
partially leveled the surface of the pile of cobs, and 
each selecting his own location, we lay down for repose, 
to find that we had no beds of down, nor even elastic felt; 
for after smoothing down the surface, as each thought 
he had, for his own private bed, when he stretched him- 
self out instead of finding repose he would find that some 
one particular cob was in a perpendicular position, with 
the upper end bearing upon some particularly tender spot 
that necessitated the digging out of the pile that particu- 
lar cob and smoothing down the pile ; or, as we lattghingly 
termed it, when the other fellow was hunting "that one 
cob," "making up his bed to shake out the feathers." 
But when the beds were finally fixed, and we became 
quiet, then we learned that our "going to bed" had been 
an invasion of the camping place of myriads of mice, 
which, as soon as we would be quiet, would hold high 
carnival in the depths of the pile of cobs, as indicated 
by the squeaking; and then, as it seemed, some of the 
most daring, Just for the fun of the thing, and for the 
sake of hearing the choice language their feats would 
call forth, would take a run, hop, skip and a jump across 
someone's face, to wake him up, and to hear the others 
laugh as the startled one gave his opinion of mice in 
general. But worn out as we were by unaccustomed ex- 
ercise, we droped off one by one into the embrace of 
Morpheus, who held each safely until the first beams of 
morning light dawned under the eastern side of the shed. 
We were all awakened by Ed's calling out, "George, 
how in heaven's name do you and the Judge expect Bob 
and me will get any sleep, when you snore so loud that 
you drown the noise of the fall of water over the mill 
dam?" This was the clarion call that started all of us 
down to the river's edge for a morning bath, and there 
after a half-hour's work with flies, spoons and phantoms it 
was found that no one had found a sign of a bass or 
crappie, but each one had caught about a two-pound cat- 
fish. A fire was soon blazing, a gallon of black coffee was 
made, the catfish broiled, and with the other supplies from 
our provision hamper, we sat down to eat. Such a break- 
fast ! Its memory still lingers with me. for I must honest- 
ly confess that taken fresh out of the water and well 
broiled. I do not know of any gentleman that wears fins 
and swims for_a living, who will make your acquaintance 
in a more satisfactory manner than Mr. Swallow-Tail Cat. 
After breakfast we moved down upon the shoals and the 
Marshal and the Judge took the minnow seine and caught 
a goodly lot of red-finned shiner minnows. As they made 
their first haul of the minnow seine, Ed Walker placed a 
large minnow on his hook and walked out upon a small 
drift log that was about four feet above the water at the 
upper end of a pool and dropped the minnow down. At 
once Ed was in trouble, needing the utmost care to keep 
his feet upon the log. he had urgent business at the end 
of his line, for something had hold of it, trying to pull 
it away from him; and how he begged for some one to 
wade in and take his rod, and how we made the hills 
<pcfio with our shouts as the swallowta'l made an extras 
twist upon the line and Ed plumped down into about 
thirty inches of water and threw his rod over his -shoulder- 
and marched out upon a gravel bar dragging after him a 
ten-pounder forked-tail, spotted-sided catfish. Then the 
fun began. Standing on the gravel bar, it was only neces- 
sary to throw a good minnow out into the swift water at 
the head of the pool, to have it at once taken ; and we soon 
found that with our light rods we could do nothing with 
the concentrated compound of energy that would fasten at 
the other end, and we all adopted what we termed "Ed's 
style of playing his catch," to bring the rod and line over 
the shoulder and march out upon the gravel bar and drag 
the fish after us, or have him break loose in the drag. 
How many we could have caught it is not possible to 
say, for after sending five good ones, each of eight or ten 
pounds weight, by a friendly farmer to the depot for the 
conductor and other trainmen on their morning return 
trip, and giving to each of the families living near the mill 
a good-sized fish (and we caught none of less than seven 
or eight pounds in weight, and none of over twelve 
pounds), we found when we stopped for dinner, and 
counted up the different strings we had, that we had forty- 
two left. After dinner George Walker and I put all of the 
fish upon one large strong line, and dropped them up in 
shoal water where they could be seen from the wagon 
bridge over the river, and then we took seats with a 
prominent neighborhood stockman under a shady tree and 
smoked, visited and talked politics, to while away the time 
until the liveryman should come to take us to the train 
for home. 
Somewhere near 3 o'clock we were called from the 
snooze we had each dropped into on the departure of the 
stockman by the call of Robert, wanting to know what 
had become of the string of fish. Going to the place where 
we had tied them to the root of a tree, we found no 
trace of them, but Ed and Rob each said that "while he 
had put eight or ten good fish on the string, he had each 
time tied it securely before he left it." Which one was 
at fault will never be known, for to this day they never 
meet and get to talking about fish but each blames the 
other with failing to properly fasten the line, and losing 
the entire lot. George and I stopped laughing long enough 
to tell them to "stop quarreling, as we had intended to 
turn the most of them loose when we got ready to go 
home, and that we would help them catch enough to fur- 
nish them all they could carry." We all went down upon 
the gravel bar, and by the time the team came after us had 
ten of the largest sized ones we had caught during the 
day. 
Arriving at Elmdale, we took supper at the hotel, made 
presents of four to friends of mine there, and took six 
large ones home with us to Topeka, where each of us 
made certain friends glad by the gift of a goodly fish. 
What caused the big run on that day none of us has 
ever been able to demonstrate or give a satisfactory rea- 
son for, and having been a frequenter of the banks of the 
Cottonwood River for fourteen years, and of other catfish 
streams before coming to Kansas, I have never known of 
a run to compare with it, and never knew of any other 
run at that season of the year. 
While we came down from Topeka to fish for bass, and 
did not get a bite, yet the incidents of that particular trip 
fill up one of the brightest pages on memory's tablets, to 
which we all love to recall each one whenever we meet, 
and such will probably be the case until, for us, the catfish 
have made their last run. ' W. F. Rightmire. 
Cottonwood Falls, Kas., April 26. 
The Ways of Anglers. 
It is singular, but true, that in almost every instance 
the angler who finds himself so situated that he can take 
a fishing trip just as well as not, is' by no means as 
anxious to go as the one who is compelled by the stress of 
circumstances to remain at home. They may be and we 
will concede that they are equally enthusiastic on the 
subject of fishing, but the former remembers that he 
can, if he wishes, start out at any time, and as there 
are some things which he might just as well do first, he 
postpones going indefinitely, in order to do them, while 
the other, restless and worried by reason of the conditions 
which keep him at home, feels that if he only had the 
opportunity of going he would grasp it at once without 
incurring the risk of an hour's delay. It seems to be the 
old story of longing after the unattainable. 
There are in these days many expert and enthusiastic 
anglers, and may their numbers increase, who maintain 
that the artificial fly is the only lure that should be used 
in fishing for speckled trout. Most of them claim that 
they can make as good catches at all times and under 
almost any conditions as the bait-fisherman can, and that 
frequently trout will take a fly when all other lures are 
ignored. Not a few of the enthusiasts go so far as to 
say that if they cannot catch trout with a fly, they will 
not catch them at all. Beyond a doubt fly-fishing is the 
neatest and most sportsmanlike method of taking trout, 
and it has fittingly been termed the poetry of angling. 
Although fly-fishing is one of the most fascinating of 
outdoor pastimes, there is a large class of proficient an- 
glers who do not believe in restricting their resources 
to this mode of luring the speckled beauties. They are 
skillful in handling the fly and disposed to give it the 
preference when they think nothing will be lost by so 
doing, but they do not hesitate to resort to the use of 
bait when conditions appear to warrant such a course. 
Such anglers may very appropriately be styled eclectic 
fishermen. They admit that better results can often be 
obtained with artificial flies than with anything else, but 
they also know that sometimes the trout will refuse 
to come to the surface of the water after them, and per- 
haps sinking the flies may prove equally ineffectual. At 
such times the eclectic angler will not disdain to try some 
other means of tempting 5, fontinalis, preferring to sacri- 
fice sentiment so far as artificial flies are concerned, rather 
than return home with an empty creel. 
It is in fishing for big speckled trout, if we believe what 
the eclectic angler tells us, that the bait most frequently 
accomplishes what the artificial fly has failed to do. That 
large trout are sometimes taken with a fly cannot be? 
denied, but many fishermen who profess to IttJoyf wh$ 
they are talking about, declare that as a rule bait is pref- 
erable. In other words, they say that the big trout which 
rises to a fly will almost invariably take a bait equally as 
well, if a tempting morsel is properly presented, and they 
claim to'have learned by practical experience that good fish 
can sometimes be taken by using a small minnow, a 
chub's tail or even angleworms where fly-fishing in the 
same spot has proved ineffectual. 
It is rarely essential to make extremely long casts while 
trout fishing in Adirondack waters. It is better for the 
angler to approach as near as caution will permit to the 
place where he has seen a trout rise or where he believes 
one to be lying, before making his cast. To possess the 
skill to drop one's flies gently in the precise spot where 
it is desirable to have them fall, is of far more practical 
value jn every-day fishing than the ability to break the 
long-distance casting record. Most experienced fly-fisher- 
men will probably agree that it is bust just and equitable 
that in fly-casting tournaments the test of skill should 
hinge upon the dexterity of a competitor in accurately 
placing his flies at a given distance, say from 40 to 75 
feet, rather than the ability, perhaps in a measure because 
of the construction of rod or line, to hurl' them a little 
further than any one else. For ordinary fishing on the 
rifts of Adirondack streams, 40 feet of line is ample, and 
more often a less amount is required. Occasionally on a 
bright day, while fly-casting on a shallow lake or over a 
cold bed or spring hole, it may be desirable to use more 
than 40 feet, but even then great care should be exercised 
not to let out more than is absolutely necessary. The 
angler who attempts to swing more line than he can 
readily handle will invariably find himself seriously handi- 
capped in fishing, not only because of the extra risk which 
he takes of having his flies entangled in the shrubbery or 
the branches of overhanging trees, but on account of his 
inability to drop his flies in the exact place where he 
wishes to, and the additional fact that any undue slackness 
in the line will render the hooking of a trout difficult. 
One of the most important lessons to be learned by 
the beginner in angling for brook trout is how to 
hook the fish when he rises to the lure. The trout must 
be fastened promptly, especially in fly-fishing. This does 
not mean yank him out of the water, but simply set the 
hook firmly into his jaw. Do not wait until the trout 
has time to discover that a fraud has been perpetrated and 
the hook will be instantly ejected. It is a pretty safe rule 
to strike the trout as soon as you realize he has struck 
your fly. To properly fasten a trout the so-called "wrist- 
knack," which all successful fly-fishermen must acquire, 
is very important. Proficient anglefs, men of acknowl- 
edged literary ability, have essayed to impart to the world 
at large the real secret of the wrist knack, but while their 
descriptions appear graphic to the initiated, the tyro often 
finds it extremely hard to put what they say into practical 
operation. It is equally difficult for the expert angler to 
show the beginner just how the act is performed and illus- 
trate it and explain it so clearly that he can not go 
amiss. Experience is the only teacher from whom the 
trick can be learned, and oftentimes the pupil will be a 
good while in getting his lesson so thoroughly as to render 
success more probable than failure. Even after he thinks 
he knows all there is about it, repeated losses of good 
'fish may demonstrate the fact that he has yet much to 
learn. There is something about the wrist knack which 
seems to baffle an absolutely lucid description, and, as in 
the case with wing-shooting, the batting of a curved ball 
or learning to ride a bicycle, only practice will bring an 
understanding. A short, quick movement of the wrist, 
very little force being exercised, is usually all that is neces- 
sary to hook a trout. Circumstances must regulate the 
action, however, for if one is using a long line or large 
hooks, or if the trout is a big one, somewhat more force 
is desirable than when the line is short, the hooks small 
and the fish under half a pound in weight. It is a good 
idea to make it a rule never to strike hard enough to lift 
a fish from the water even though it proves to be under 
the six-inch limit. The importance of quickness cannot 
be too strongly emphasized. When once acquired, the 
exercise of the wrist knack calls for neither conscious 
thought or effort, the act being as involuntary as that of 
walking or breathing. W. E. Wolcott. 
Utica, N, Y., April IS. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
The Season in Michigan. 
Chicago, May 1. — One of the most important expedi- 
tions now pending among our local anglers is the trip of 
the Chicago Fly-Casting Club on May 15, plans for which 
are now well under way. As usual, the men of Grand 
Rapids are to be hosts of the Chicago, contingent, and 
the arrangements already completed show that nothing is 
to be overlooked or left undone to make the occasion a 
successful one. The Grand Rapids Club will hold open 
house on the 15th, offering a little friendly casting tourna- 
ment for the visitors, and following this there will be 
general exodus for the trout streams north of the enter- 
prising little city of Grand Rapids— which latter in all 
likelihood contains more anglers of high grade than any 
other of its size in the United States. The F. & P. M. 
and the D. G. R. & I. railways will carry the visitors 
free of charge from Grand Rapids to the fishing grounds, 
an act which ought to reopen the old decision that" cor- 
porations have no souls. 
The schedule is for the Chicago members of the party 
to leave here May 14, reach Grand Rapids May 15, and to 
start north from there the evening of the 15th or the 
following morning. This will enable the members to 
fish on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, if they like, as 
well as Monday, and bring them back to Chicago Tues- 
day morning. This ought to be enough time out of doors 
to take the edge off that spring trout appetite. The hosts 
of the tournament will be companions on the stream, and 
they know where the trout are to be f©und. The Baldwin 
neighborhood will, of course, be popular, but the party 
will be widely scattered over the lower peninsula. 
Regarding the best streams this year for trout in the 
Michigan lower peninsula, Mr. W, B. Mershon. of Sagi- 
naw, writes as below to a daily paper, in aswer to re- 
pots fa information, and bis advice is worth follow.. 
