The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-06-14
LANDING A TROUT.
Contest Between a Nine Ounce Rod and
Three-Pound Fish.

AulEOnuacKS, gives the following graphic
account of the catching of an energetic
trout:
Reader, did you ever land a trout? l
do not ask it you ever jerked some poor
little fellow out of a brook three feet
across, with pole six inches around at
the butt, and so heavy as to require both
hands and feet to hold it out. No; that's
not landing a trout" But did you
ever sit in a boat with nine ounces of
lance wood for a rod and two hundred
| feet of braided silk OH your dOuble-acting
| reel, and hook a trout whose strain
| brought tip and butt together as you
checked him in some wild flight, and
| tested your qUivering line from gut to
| reel knot ? No one knows what game
there is in a trout unless he has fought
| it out, matching such a rod against a
| three pound fish, with forty feet of water
| underneath, and clear, unimpededb sweep
around him. All, then it is that one
| discovers what will and energy lie within
the notified skin of trout, and what
miracle of velocity he is when aroused.
| love the rife, and l have looked along
the sights and held the Ieaping blood
back by an effort of will, steadyiug my
self for the shot, when my veins fairly
tingued with the exhilarating excitement
of the moment; but If one should ask me
| what is my conception of pure physical
| happiness, | should assure him that the
| highest beautitude ever expect to reach
! is, on some future day, when the sun Is
| occasionally yelled by clouds, to sit in a
boat once more upon that little lake, and
match again a COnrOy rod against a
| three-pouud trout. That's what / call
happiness.
Well, as I said, l struck, and as we
afterward discovered, the huge salmon
hook was buried in the shank amid the
nerves which lie at the root of q trOut's
| tongue. Then came a fight for the
mastery, such as never before had
waged with anything thatsw Words
| should have life in them to Depict the
! scene. Quick as a fash, before I had
fairly recovered my balance, partially
! lost by the energy with which l struck
| the trout started, and before [ could get
a pressure upon the line not twenty
| yards were lett upon the reel. A quick
stroke from John, and the boat shot to
one side, and bearing stOutly on him,
tasking the rod to the last ounce of
resistance, slowly swayed him about
and recovered little slack. After few
short sweeps he doubled on the line, and
shot straight for the boat as an arrow from
bow.
" Double, and be hanged to you !"
shouted John, as he SHE'D the light she'll
to one side and swung it around so as to
keep me facing the fish. If you get
under this boat it will be because this
paddle breaks"
Failing in his attempt to run under
US, he dove to the bottom. Let him
rest moment" said John; recover
your line; you'll need it all when he
rises. He's big and ugly, and his next
rush will be like lightning"
After I had slowed away some forty
yards upon the reel, winding it on hard
and evenly, so that it would render we'll,
/ began to feel of the fish. The first
pressure elected only shake. At the
next he described a circle, still keeping
to the bottom, then came to a stand still.
He acted ugly. I felt that when the
rush came it would try nerve and tao kle
alike. Enjoining John to watch the fish
and favor me all he could, and by no
means to let him pass under the boat, l
gave a quick, sharp jerk. My arm was
still in the air, and the rod unstTaight
ened, when l caught a glance far below
me, and before / had time to wink the
huge fellow parted the water almost
within reach of my own arm, and when
high up in mid air he shook himself the
crystal drops were flung into my very
face. Perhaps | shall live long enough
to forget the picture, as that trout for an
interval hung in the air, his blue black
and azure sides spotted gold with and
agate, his fins edged with snowy white,
his eyes prOtruding, gills distended, the
leader hanging from his jaws, while a
shower of pearly drops were shaken from
his sides. He fell but while still il the
air the boat sided backward, and when
he touched the water 1 was thirty feet
away and ready for his rush. 1t came
and as he passed US, some forty feet off,
he Glove the water as a bolt from a cross
bow might cleave the air. Possibly for
five minutes the frenzy lasted. Not a
word was uttered. The whizz of the
line through the water, the whir of the
flying reel, and an occasional grunt from
John as the fish doubled on the boat
were the only sounds to be heard.
When suddenly in one of his widest
flights the terribly-taxed rod straight
ened itself out with a spring, the pres
sure ceased, the line slackened, and the
fish lay again on the bottom. Wiping
the sweat from my brow, turned to
John and said, What do you think of
that %
Mr. Murray" replied John, laying
the paddle down and drawing the sleeve
OF his wooden shirt across his forehead
beaded with perspiration, that fish is
ugly; if he should get the line over his
back he'd smash the rod like a pipe
stem"
q He won't get it over his back" re-
piled I. Ready with your paddle !;
he's getting too much breath"
But l say" said John, looking affec-
tionateIy at the rod, as he took up the
paddle, q" If | was in your place, and nc
did get the line over his shoulder, l
would part my tackle before I smashed
that rod"
q won't do either. john" and as
answered I gave Jerk, and the trout
started again. Twice did ne break the
surface a hundred feet away, fnging
himself out like a black bass. Once did
he partially get the leader over his back
and dashed away like lightning, while
John, anxious to save so true a rod from
ruin, shouted to me, part the gut"
But who ever knew a fisherman when
his blood was up, refuse a risk to save
the game | screamed to John to shoot
the boat to one side. and when the last
foot of silk was given / advanced the
butt. The heavy fish and plant rod
were pittied one against the other. For
a moment the quivering tip ratified upon
the bars of the reel. The fish struggled
and shook himself, but the tenacious
, fbers woaId not part. He ceased to
battle, came painting to the surface, and
rolled over on his side. The boat shot
toward him, and, as it glided by, John
passed the landing net beneath him, and
the brave fighter lay upon the bottom
board. His tail, across its base,
measured FIVE inches, and his length
from tip to tip was seventeen inches and
three quarters.