658 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Nov. 23, 1912 
Some Humors of Florida Fishing. 
Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 12. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: Early in July, when we left that 
little fishing hamlet X. near the mouth of the St. 
Johns with its up-to-date hotel and various other 
attractions, we declared that we never wished to 
see it again. The spirit of Izaak Walton was too 
much for me, and yesterday my fishing blood ran 
up to no, and there was nothing to be done but 
reduce the fever. Dr. G. was called in; he had 
expressed a desire to accompany me on one of 
my fishing expeditions. I told him to get ready 
for a trip to X. at 5:30. It was then 1 o’clock 
and raining in torrents. He said: “Why, man, 
it’s.pouring down.” I replied: “Yes, commence 
knocking now after begging a month to be taken 
along.” This brought him around, and at 5 130 
we were on the little dinky bound for X. thirty 
miles away at sixty-five cents per round trip. 
On arriving we found “John,” our boatman, to 
whom we had phoned, awaiting us. He had just 
come in from securing live mullet bait, and was 
as wet as the proverbial “drowned rat.” Evi¬ 
dently he did not expect us. The rain was 
simply trying to break the weather man’s record 
and had been for most of the day. He gave 
•one long grin when he saw us climb out of our 
“Pullman” and sidling up to us, said: “Are you 
the gentlemen who phoned me to make ready 
for a fishing trip?” I replied: “You guessed 
right that time. Are you ready?” “Yes, sir,” 
he said. “All the bait you are looking for up 
to one-pound mullet, but what about the rain?” 
“We have brought a change of raiment,” I said, 
“and never let a little thing like a shower inter¬ 
fere.” He gave us a long look, as much as to 
say, you’ll do, and turning, led the way to that 
so-called hotel, which will bring up such pleas¬ 
ant recollections to you. 
“Go in and get supper,” he said, “and then 
I wish to see you a few moments and all ar¬ 
rangements will be completed.” Dr. G., who had 
never been in this hostelry before, now took the 
lead, and I followed very reluctantly. I thought 
I knew what to expect, but found I didn’t. My 
face had to brighten up a little when I took my 
seat at the table, for I recognized some old 
friends. There in the same spot was that iden¬ 
tical dish of fish which we had looked on and 
inhaled several weeks gone by. Age had not 
added any attractiveness to it nor had its odor¬ 
iferous qualities been lessened in the least. No 
one had been so bold as to tackle it without a 
deodorizer, and its place at the table was as 
secure as McGraw’s management of the Giants. 
The coffee had evidently been practicing for 
a bout with Frank Gotch; the butter was old 
enough to be bald-headed, but I noticed some 
scattering hairs in it. The light bread looked 
as though it might have landed with Ponce de 
Leon, and like him hunting for that same “Foun¬ 
tain of Youth.” Not wishing to crush any of 
my old friends, I soon made a hasty exit and 
found John. 
"When will you be ready to go,” was his 
greeting. ‘Now, suits me,” said I, and already 
I could feel the water trickling down my neck 
and saturating my every pore when we should 
have been out only a few moments, for I knew 
I would catch it, not having a raincoat of any 
kind, and right here let me tell you that mos¬ 
quitoes, the big gray-backed rascals, swarmed 
around us, giving us a warm reception. I re¬ 
treated into a screened room, but it was like 
Mark Twain’s “mosquito bar”—more under than 
on the outside, so out I came again. Let me 
digress long enough to say that in some places 
in Florida the chickens have- to be screened in 
or the mosquitoes will kill them. As for my¬ 
self I believe that mosquitoes as large and blood¬ 
thirsty as the X. brand could reach through the 
wire and pull the chickens out. Dr. G. joined 
us at this time and John informed us that the 
tide would be on about 2 a. m. and to fish be¬ 
fore that time was only wasted energy. As no 
fisherman is long on this article, we retired, John 
promising to call us at midnight. 
We had plenty of calls between times, how¬ 
ever. Mosquitoes called incessantly, and when 
John called for us, we were ready to go. At 
12 :o5 we were dressed, and on our way to the 
boat, a large gasolene launch capable of hold¬ 
ing ten "Or a dozen people, with a nice little well 
in the center of the boat for the bait. Here 
minnows could be kept indefinitely. We ran 
diagonally across the river to the “Oyster” beds 
and cast anchor in one fathom of water, and at 
once commenced arranging our rods and reels. 
We were told again that we would get no bites 
until the tide began to run, but we were there 
for fishing. The mosquitoes were. also fishing 
for suckers, and for more than an hour we held 
rod in one hand and fought mosquitoes with the 
other. We had been fishing in semi-darkness, 
but now a faint light appeared in the east. A 
little breeze started up and the mosquitoes van¬ 
ished. The old wreck in the mouth of the river 
loomed up in the distance. Two Government 
boats near us were more sharply outlined. Sud¬ 
denly the moon appeared, coming up out of a 
bed of molten silver, and as its rays danced on 
the waters and the waters lapped against our 
little vessel, the brilliancy of the scene became 
more and more entrancing, and I began to be 
lost in reverie, when swish went my line, and my 
reel was singing a song that is so dear to a 
fisherman’s heart. 
The contest was on. Would I land him in 
the boat? No time for reverie now. If one ever 
needed one’s wits, the event was at hand. I 
remembered you had told me never to let a 
large one go straight away from you if you only 
had a short line. This was my condition, and 
as he would bend my rod almost double and 
then would start straight away, it was almost 
impossible for me to so change that at any time 
I could give him a little more bent rod instead 
of a straight pull. John was yelling to me that 
it was a sea bass, and for me to do thus and 
so, and 1 was all the time trying to think what 
you would do under the same circumstances, and 
this helped me, for after what I thought was an 
extra long time I succeeded in getting him along¬ 
side the boat, but just as John reached down for 
him, away he went again, and it was all to do 
over, if anything more difficult than before. 
I was in the vessel, on the side, now up and 
now down, and swishing that rod while Mr. Bass 
was giving me the fishing event of my life. Once 
more I got him headed toward the vessel. He 
was coming like a racehorse, and I wondered if 
it was to be his finish or mine. I was trying to 
keep my line taut. He was now near the boat 
and I suppose this was what John was waiting 
for. He seized my line, and with one quick jerk 
the momentum of the fish landed him inside the 
boat before he* or I knew just what had hap¬ 
pened. After we got him he weighed 914 pounds. 
Before he was landed I knew that he would 
weigh 25 pounds at the least. Game, did you 
say! Well, I don’t believe they put up a better 
fight anywhere. We caught ten; the first was 
the largest and the smallest weighed 4^2 pounds. 
Every time one made my reel sing I wished for 
you, for I knew you would have enjoyed it to 
the utmost. 
Our catch weighed 57^2 pounds—six bass 
'and four trout. At no time were we bothered 
with any other than those we caught except two 
or three that got away from us, that I am satis¬ 
fied that a skilled fisherman like yourself could 
have landed. We were through, but I was not 
ready to come back to Jacksonville at train time, 
5 :30, but did so. 
Inclosed find some scales from the largest 
one and wish you could have been here to have 
helped me eat him, as he was as fine flavored as 
one could wish. W. T. McCown. 
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