The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-05-17

~ SaoDdSt tree ONefhanKlng the camp
hre. Atterward | would bait the hook
with half mullet, take the sinker out in
skin the full length Of the line, and drop
lt uverbnard- One night after had gone
a. he'd, there was trouble in the old cab
hAse tree. The limbs were cracking and
dancing over the embers Of the campfire
as though the spirits Of the air were at
work. Iuster, our dog, was barking like all
possessed. Reused from sound sleep, it
was some moments before | could realize
what was the matter. 1t struck me like
flash. ! dashed out Of the tent in my bare
feet stood upon the beach in the soft light
Of February moon, and spent fifty min
utes IN getting to the shore bass that
weighed nifty three pounds. At times |
could not hold HIM. He absolutely drew
me over the shore When | landed him |
vas dripping with sweat. The splashing Of
the water and my shouting to my comrades
startled a regiment of owls, and they filled
the woods with unearthly boots The owls
started the aligators, and the alligators the
herons, and the LerOns the wild cats, while
hordes OF drumhsh beat a general alarm
Dr. Fox scaled the bass with Il grubbmg
hoe. The most Of the scales were AS large
AS silver dollars The Floridians turn 40
their noses at a Sheepshead and only use
the head ana shoulders Of the bass. With
these, however, they make delicious
stew
FISHING FOR sNAPPEKs
Next to the bass, in point of gameness
are the snappers. of these there are two
kinds the red and black The color Of
the first is as delicate as the color of the
under inns Of a speckled trout The snap
per is a stocky built fish, something after
the shape of a shad, only heavier about
the shoulders, and with a larger mouth
The name is an index to the character of
the fish. Snappers not only snap up the
bait, but they snap off mans fingers un-
less he Is careful. In weight they run from
one to fifteen pounds. When hooked. they
break like a kIngtish, though with more
weight. They whip around as if crazy. and
invariably dash under the boat II requires
nerve and skill to land them The best
snapper ishIng is in Indian River Inlet,
opposite Fort Capron. The inlet is alive
NTH game tish. There are bass, snappers,
grouper, jewish, and cavallo, Or "creval-
yea, As the natives call them, IN ahund-
ance. But the sharks are Just as plentiful.
and ut enormous size. They amuse them
selves by walking off with your fish after
yo6 have hooked him. They lay claim to
aboM every third fish, and take hook.
ssr, and all with the utmost assurance.
EIGHTEEN PERSONS EATEN BY sHARk>.
The water fairly boils with sharks
counted one hundred and twelve within
the space Of an acre. none Of which were
less than eight teet long Indian river
people say that they have seen them TWEEN
ty feet i'll length. 1 saw one that measured
over seventeen feet. They would frequent
IL break under the bows Of our twenty one
foot sail boat, careenng her to one side
and at times half lifting her from the
water They tocked about the boat by
dozens, and cast hungry looks at the huge
yellow dog on the forecastle At one time
| struck twelve foot fellow over the snUut
with a heavy boat pole He made great
whIrl through the water as if surprised
but saucily darted back to the craft to see
what had hit him. Occasionally boatmen
plunge lily irons into them, and are towed
about the river against wind and tide for
miles. Some Of the natives declare that
they are man eaters, while others deny it,
Jim Pane, of Fort Capron, told me that
hc had stood in the water for hours while
these biz shark were nOsing about his legs,
but DIR. Fox, my guide, seemed afraid Of
them. and declared that he had known
them to pull an estimable young lady from
Savannah out of a boat while she was drag
ging her hand behind the stern. She was
cut INTO mlnce meat IN hve seconds. Du-
ring the war, it is said, that boat con
tanning fourteen men was upset III Jupiter
Inlet. about twenty feet from shore. There
was a foaming Of the waters, and i'll half
a minute twelve Of the fourteen men dis
appeared The water tinged with blood
marked the spots where they had been
drawn under. Two of the sailors got
ashore, but 50 bitten and in shreds that
they died soon afterward.
| was told another story of four men
who started to walk up the beach from
Cape Florida to st. Augustine. They man
aged t. get across New Inlet upon an i'm
proviscd raft, but on arriving at Lake
Worth Inlet, they attempted to swim
across. Three Of them were gobbled up by
sharks The fourth reached the shore, and
travelled on to Jupiter Light, where he
told uf the fate Of his comrades. These
reports certainly show that many of the
sharks are man-eaters The most Of them
are If the sh"vel-nosed variety. As they
are more lively and voracious in the sum
mer than IN winter. it is probable that they
would attack a man in July or August
w1en they would not touch him in Decem-
ber or January.
THE BE>T FISHERMEN IN FLORIDA
are the pehcans and ospreys. A pelican
consumes about peck Of fish day. They
flock about the inlets and straits by the
thousands. Supposing there are 2OO. 600
pehcans IN Florida and there are certainly
more than that they would eat 5000
bushels cf fish each day, or 1872, 5OO,O 900
bushels per year. Tn millions upon mill
IONS of white and blue cranes, herons, cur
lewr, gulls. -haws, kinghshers, and
other waterfowl devour thousands of
bushels Of fish every twenty-fOur hours.
An experienced Cracker estimates that
7OO. .OOO bushels Of fish day are required
% feed the birds Of Florida, alone. This
would make 235, 5OO, 900 bushels each year
Add to this the billions of fish swallowed
by sharks, bass, and others, and the sum
total viii reach nearly 1000, 900, 900 bush
els Of fish destroyed by feathered and
tinny fishermen on the peninsula IN twelve
months At first glance these figures ap-
pear enormous, but let any man make his
own estimate and carefully figure 1t up,
and he will find them under instead Of
over.
THE PRINCE OF FEATHERED GLUTTONS.
The pelican is the prince of gluttons. |
shot a dozen Of them on the wing Some
times the fish would begin to tumble out
Of their outlets before they reached the
ground. In no case did | find less than
four large fish in their baggy throats. The
lower tsh would be half digested. Their
throttles are like mill hoppers. They fill
the pouch under their bill with peck Of
I fish The fish overflow into their throats.
/ As fast as one digests another drops into
its place, and goes through the same pro
cess The bird is fat, logy, and very rank.
1t is full Of grease Handle dead one IN
the sun or before camp fire, and the
grease will drip from the body. They
1 frop, fxuolva IN. fu-antv nonnda DIR