The North-Carolinian. [volume] (Fayetteville [N.C.]) 1839-1861, 1861-01-12
ole Umtb Garoliniau,
FAYETTEVILLE. N. C..
bLiTE-FINHING At FIRE INLAND.

=
angling for bass, with drop-line, over the side o
scow u:itil the peels the skin from the back
OF your hands, contain some elements of excisa
i ment-eSpecIally If you rub mutton talOw YOU
J paws before going to bed
i 1t seems to me, however, that some kinds of aug
{ ling have than their share of andation. III
praises of trout-tisiiing for example, have b.l,f
sung and celebrated by poet and philosopher u,.-i
one torgets that wading up ones waist in CO
water is strongly provocative of cold in the heas
to say nothing Of infammatory rheuma ,n, le
such minor complaints.
Ii that be the superlative of fishing which gi, |.
the greatest sport with the least labor 10 get a. i,
then is blue-fs4ing off Fire Island the @ynnE-a
h0tst4se gwen by kind Providence to the angling
tribe. You get into your boat you light your ci
gar, and sail TO your fishing ground-if you fine
no fish, you light another cigar and sail back again
Your angle for trout walks fifteen miles tho
| land and five III the water, with better chance
| tor success than you have, tor all the fnny tribe
like the white man, ''mghty unsartin,'') and
whether successful not, he returns unfit for civil
lZed Socie.y, and rs tired though he had been
saving wood all day Il wager
And yet one has immorta:iz lied bluefshing as
am going to d." 1t mentioned in the pages
Of old Izaak w alton and has he not described all
! plscatolial sports then known to the word from
| the catching of minnows with a crooked pin up to
the feats of that enterprsing and powerful indvd-
| ual who
Bated his hook with dragons tail,
And sat rock and bobbed for wh.le
Mr. Gradgrind wants facts > and, having made
a strong claim for Fire Island bue-tishng in sup
port OF it II submit those facts candid world:
Once upon a time, on beautiful September da v
the Ancient the Scribe and l. Af A. Sigma walk
ed down Domny's wharf to boat. Everybody
who knows whats good for himsell7' goes to
Doninys once Year. That is, if knowing wha st
good for ones self consists in desire to be as long
aS p ssbe at sea-shore resort, where one has to
dress but once day, and that in dilapidated
manner as suits ones personal convenience-where
one gets both surf and still bathing-wlcre the ta
bic is uncquaed by any table this '.globed
alrth' where the ladies allow you to come to din
ner IN your boating shiit if you return late from
blue i~hing-wherc oysters are to be had for the
trouble IF eating thcnl--where one can be
emphatical!y comfortable for few days in each
ear Of this weary pill 5rimage earth.
Being, Of course, intensely nautical, call upon
each "tn'r to tumble, in ahoy% = and having Gone
., off we 90, feeling that. with s,m Hul~e sailing
us We are safe from death by drowning as though
@c were III the Great Desert Of Sahara.
am sitting OF tiIe bow of the boat as~luo,.<ly
engage! III c"!orins my mee shaun, when at
tractyd by the s"..l Of war and looking behind me
see terrific single combat going in The. stern
sheets OF the c"t-oat between the ancient end the
.l his l.a ei,l up on h is9 iPlr
.si,-n Ie.c Il ,icEi. ils t:,ii .ss.
max NJ it literally piping time of peace :
The ha! being reached, our lines are thrown over,
and remain there until we arc on the bosom of the
broad Atlantic. Then simultaneous tug of the
lines. and Simultaneous ia ting Of all three show
that there is troui lie somewhere. Oar skipper
V HON you would have thought asleep or his eve
i1:u not Hccn maze constantly C1ntnr aD ut tor
signs of squalls and naernaiS, suddenly becomes in
tentlv acti"c. Iasn2s the helm to the binnacle OF
performing some such manatime feat, he makes for
ward and produces three lines about large as bed
cords with slli,ls foot long He tr,lsts these in
to our hands, saying, big bl csh and lots of emf
and goes about as to catch the school again.
Presently the Scribe shouts, IRE got one %
Whercupon he arises, and standing upon on> leg on
the wash board like acrobat. he pulls in with such
energy Of purpose and dexerty that when the fish
! gets away which it does about ten feet from the
boat, he has cast nine coils of his line around
his neck TO say nothing of foot two which he
has insanely packed into his watch pocket.
In another moment the Ancient and each strike
a fish and follow the Scribes eXample-always ex-
ceptng the stan,ling one leg on the waShboard
pulled in my fish with such ''cloSe attention to bus
mess > that if Sam hadn't watched and ducked
would infallby have knocked his head oif-and
who would have taken us home then? His agility
could Mt him. how ever, from visitation"
the fancy call it, from the -\ncients eight-poun-
der but the blow not being fatal he went about
again, and for two hours We were as industrious
as Satan is popularity supposed to be during a
/ heavy blow. just as fast as we could throw out
Just so fast we pulled them in.
'All things were favorable to us. 1t blew just
a blue-f>h brecze-we had the best Eoatman on
Long Island shore to sail the fish We're raven
ous-and the day cool. All at the An
cent SAID "ihe fish have let up little. 1--WE were
catching one every three minutes inrtead of one
every two,) believe III cat clam And then
and there, with the fish crying out catch US " AID
the breeze saying SIN help you, he abandoned his
line and ate seven CLANS So much for Fire Island
appetite.
At the end of two hours paused. The boat
looked like butchers stall-the shippers spat-
tered from head to foot fingers blee ling
/ a d clothes red with gore-the Ancieut
had eaten up all the clams-and first went
about, and then went home.
On the way took account of Stock where
upou the gratifying result appeared that had on
hand hundred and twenty blue-fsh
weighing, afterwards asceTta ned, ten hundred
and twcnty-sevei pounds, to say nothing of five or
six little two pound fellows, which thrown
over board to tighten the boit How many more
would have taken but for the clam -erouSness of
the Ancient do not know.
50 we sailed home to Mrs Dominys oyster pies
which were something superhuman, smoking our
pipes, clothed and in 5ht minds, little fatgu
ed and very hungry.
Does the trout fisherman dare to compare his
sport with ours? Is there any comparison between.
his line and oar bed cords-hs fly and our three
pound SjIuiIs-his creel and our cat boat? And
much our apparatus was grander than his, SO
much glandcr was our sport. 1t he caught ten
pounds OF fish be esteems good days sport. and
his shoulders ache vehemently beneath the weight
| Of his fishing basket l need not ask him where
he would stow thousand pounds of pisces, for
if he should catch but fish in size like unto
leviathan, which weighed thirteen pounds six
ounces, he would be in the position which the tall
gamekeeper suggested the probability OF Mr.. VIM