The New York herald., 1878-12-02
AMONG THE GOLDFISH.

DAYS WORK on THE CHOLERA BANKs-THE
FUN THEY HAD AND THE FISH THEY CAUGHT.
codfishing party. over eighty in number, started
off in the Seth Low yesterday morning early to try
their luck in the blue waters covering the Cholera
Banks. Most of them veterans and enthusiasts.
who would rather land twenty pound cod than dis
a continent They were satisfactorily fixed III
the matter Of oyercoats, fishing tackle ham sand
wches and TASKS of spiritual comfort They cared
little about the cold and when Captain Foster apollo
gized for not having provided steam heaters in the
saloon to keep their feet warm they laughed in
scorn. For really enjoyable codfshing they
prefer midwinter when the rigging Of the
steamboat is covered half inch thick with frost.
Among the veterans were Joe Morgan and his mother
whose enthusiasm for codfishing is something
markable in old lady. She is deft hand at land
ing cod and lays away over her Joe in that
respect but he is equal to her in skill when extract
ing gaf from the jaws of conger eel. and he can
thing which few of these salt anglers can boast
There were. besides, Roger LOTUS. dick" volck-
Pelton, John Johnston, Fred schaumberger.
J. Tucker. George Zaun. Maurice Hsrri-
gan and Captain Sam Morre-all IRE all, experts saa
The party spent no time on the trip down in
aesthetic reflections on the beauty OF the bay, the
picturesque effect of the gittcring white sails in the
distance backed against the dark brown shore or the
dancing deep blue waters but set to work donning
their denim overalls and preparing their skinner
clam bait for the work before them. flock Of sea
gus followed in the wake of the steamboat and the
captains buffalo gun was brought to bear upon them
and fired with stunning noise at which the sea gulls
laughed and sailed away unharmed. Out on the
broad ocean the swell hardly felt and nobody
thought Of sea sickness.
THE BANKS.
When the Seth Low cast anchor she was about forty
FIVE miles from New York. with the light gray hori-
zon to the south and the low, dim outline of Fire
Island to the north. At anchor all around were tidy
fishing smacks to the number OF sixty seventy and
many light rowboats. all busy fishing for the COW
eted cod. The boys the Seth Low early to
work. batting their barbed hooks with SKINNER clans
and casting their snkers out to Maurice Harri-
gan hauled in the first cod, amid shout of applause
but his lines fell in unproductive places for some
time afterwsrd and the detested conger eel became
bis portion. George Zann fshed for an hour
and struck nothing but conger eels. whereupon
he got disgusted and exclaimed, II makes tun any
more NIT desc tam Congress eels." Maurice Harri-
proud Of his capture till sole Dan" Tucker scooped
III one that turned the balance at twenty-five pounds
I'm bet the drinks" said Tucker. that's the boss
cod of the day" and 40 it proved. big and lively
member Of the Goldfish family ran off with Frank
Ritters hook and bait clear away under the keel OF
the steamboat, and there. seeing another hook and
bait grabbed for and got it. The fish was hauled up
by the of the last hook and bait the oppo-
site side OF the boat from where Ritter standing
much to the atters modification.
"By shinminy, dhas ish my cod. cried he, jump
ing from one side of the boat to the other. "Ders
nein hook and der's lnein line and bait
.'Oid on. my earty.' replied Lotus, my 'ook
and line are there too; that cod belongs to both Of
and we II toss up to who II ave im.'
..yell, let him pc so said Ritter good naturedly;
"ders do tightin' ofer Goldfish, and the dispute
was smicably settled, Ritter winning the toss.
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.
Captain Sam Morrell and Fred Foster went off
in rowboat to fis their own account. and III two
hours brought back forty five goldfish. weighing in all
300 pounds and nlling two barrels The conger
eels caused great deal of profanity in the
first stages Of the days hshins, and this
cul minated in perfect torrent or athcmas when
Fred Schaumberg, weighing $50 pounds. lost his
perpcndiculAr in trying to keep under his heels
while extracting a hook from its jaws. Fred sud
denly sat down the CORY deck with his legs point
ing the horizon and his eccentric hook inserted ia
the widest part Of his panialoons was sight for
feeling eyes.
Mem Gott!" he roarod with his returning breath.
'dese coneaye ees iss de very tam tyv himself. don
About the same time q nervous coun.ryman of
Fred's hauled in a lobster that made his fingers
shake and IN trying to unhtc his hook the lobsters
pair or scissors closed on his thumb and made hin.
dance the can-can.
Hes got em bad" all the sympathy he re
ceived from those around him when he rid him
self Of the lobster they gathered about and looked
curiously at the hooks he used.
''Why." said OF the fishermen, those hooks are
too weak for goldfish"
.'vell don't you ncfer mind dot he replied rather
ansrily; 'dey is strong enough for veaknsh
"O sec," .retorted the other; '.it's wcakfish
you're looking for, not codtishY'
"Shust So mistare smart mans, shust so,' and no
walked Oh with an air OF victory.
sTAlsBOALp AND PORT.
For an hour or 50 the anglers the starboard side
of the boat had in goldfish. while those on
the other had to put mp with uninterrupted run
OF eels some skates sea robbins ana two black
fish, Conger ees strewed the deck, which was slip
pcry with shcr blood and ~ they dlei hard aud
wri2ged long walking about was pefilous. fish-
caught two congers q single hook and these
were dubbed "the two orphans. Askste with face
ike young pigs. was captured by another and put
away a rare curiosity The number OF large cod
tsh caught was quite unusual and the total number
hauled the gunwale, exclusive of what taken
in the small boat, l45, Of which the largest catch
by one man was nine, the next hye, and the next
four. Joe Morgan was not successful usual but
his mother, who looks as young himself. saved the
family professional reputation by lIdng sbouncer.
weighing twelve pounds. Less tnan half-a OF
the party mot with i'll luck, and II they unfortu-
nate in not being paronzed by the Goldfish they had
abundance of game TO show in the matter OF congcr
eeis But these the adherence OF the veterans.
and no man could aspire to rank high fisherman
among them whose only trophy was string Of such
reptiles.
Coming home the company in the best of
humor with the days sport, the weather having
proved absolutely delightiu and the sport far above
the average