Litchfield enquirer., 1867-07-04
CANFIELD, Ohio, June 1867.

MR. EDIToR:-One of the troubles that
 traveller has to guard against, is the wiles of of crafty Landlords and I am obliged to acknowledge that have been victimized
 while at Conneaut Mine host informed me
 late at night that on the following day he was going to catch few ssBass" from the
 waters of Lake Erie, and that there was just room enough for me in his boat. I could not resist such delicate hint and ac- cordingly the morning found us bright and
 early driving to the Lake two miles away.
 Rowing ill his skiff some half mile from shore and anchoring in thirty feet of water the sport began. Batting with live fish called ''shiners" in Conn. but ''NIinnows' in Ohio and dropping the line nearly to the bottom of the water you have only to raise and lower it or keep it in motion and the Bass are supposed to bite; unfortunate ly they don't always do so, and weary arms and blasted hopes only are left. It was a beautiful>day and pleasant business, the irregular lines of the shore with trees and farms and buildings scattered along, while
 beyond lay the town with its church spires and chimneys, the broad blue lake with light waves ever playing upon it's surface, converted by the sun into dazzling pano- rama of diamonds; the steamers out far
 beyond, laden with wares for Buffalo or Cleveland, or perhaps grain to feed the
 hungry Yankees, ploughed along with ma- ny puff beneath cloud of black smoke, the less pretentious schooners looked like
 winged birds such as the Indians thought Columbus vessels Were, and an occasional sail boat fitted by us with merry load of men and maidens. All these were like pleas ant dreams in the mind of the wayworn traveller, when with jerk goes the line
 from my hand but it is soon caught up, and with a wonderful degree of skill, five pound striped Bass is landed in the boat.
 What noble looking fish, it was-so fat Such muscular developments as he foun- ders about, almost jumping out of the boat! How hls scales glisten! His mouth and eyes protest against such treatment! How he bites and kicks and strikes at you! How could one treat noble fish like this. So to pacify him we cast him overheard with cord through his mouth SO he could not leave us easily. Then how the lines bobbed up and down trying to catch the poor fellow company. How proud I felt; how laughed at the Landlord who. sat so patiently in the opposite end and with line in each hand seemed to play see-saw with the waves. First blood for old Conn., says I, Had mt you better go to Bantam Lake and learn how to fish?" Finally Bon- iface felt nibble and after nearly tumb ling over the boat, hauled from the mighty deep - ''Sheepshead." Do you know what that is? Wellit is big fish, white looking, much like shad, but valuable on ly for good looks, the more you cook one the tougher it becomes. They say man boiled one two weeks once, then used 1t to sole his boots with. In their heads directly over their eyes are two small white stones called eye-stones much valued as charms, supposed to wield some myste- rious influence After getting the eye stones out. the fish was thrown into the deen without cord attachment. Soon the gentleman from Conn. caught another Bass. then another, then luck changed and the other end caught Pike, Blue Pike he called it, looked to me much like Blue Perch, then he caught Sand Pike, then an Ell-pod then Bass, and to short 7n the story we caught seven Bass weigh ng twenty eight pounds in about three hours, and poor luck they called it, but to your humble servant used only to catching couple pounds day of Roach and Perch n Bantam Lake, it was pretty large figures md worthy of this long yarn; nor can I re- yret that was made victim, and lost { ,alf day in innocent sport anl plea sant .edection. When the next day .te of these huge leviathans of (