National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1880-04-02
MISCELLANEOUS.
SOME FISHSTORTES.
PecuIiarities Seen by an Amateur FIshern1f
In Charleston Harbor

PeouIiarities Seen by an Amateur Fisherman
| In Charleston Harbor.
| Now that the snakes or rather the snake
| stories, have gone into their dens for tho win
! tor, big fish yarns are in order. Among the
latter is one waited up from the outer road.
stead OF the port of Galveston, Texas, describ-
| ing the excitement of q boats crew who wero
recently towed in various directions about tho
harbor by what they term a devil fish,"
which had become eutanglcd in the anchor
| gearing. The circumstance Is not an insulated
one, but the term devil fish" is msapplied.
The species in ichtbyology that has this kind
Of fondness for anchor cables Is the stinRree.
found all along the coast south Of Cape Hat
| teras IL grows to an immense size Is of great
| strength owing to the peculiar formation Of It's
| flars, or sides, and chooses the warm waters
OF the harbors and rocky or clear bottom.
| Take tadpole and rig IL with tapering sides
| from the body for about three times its width,
and half way up and on top ofthe tail place
two bony barbs, one longer than the other, and
you have the general outline of the stingree.
| The flaps enable II 10 not only propol itself
through the water at great speed, but TO cling
to the bottom or anything with which il may
come In contact with much flrmness.
There have been q number of instances In
Charleston harbor where fshing.boats and
yachts have been towed by this kind Of fish,
and off the mouth Of tho North Edisto River a
two-mastod flshing-boat was carried out to
sea fifteen miles before tho occupants cut the
anchor ropo for safety. That was u year before
the war.
In June, 1866, tho writer was fishing for
shark Off the dilapidatod wharf at Rockville,
Wadmalaw Island. s. c., where Bohicket
Creek makes In from the Edisto River The
negroes had stolen about every other plank of
the wharf, which served good turn in this
instance by allowing space for 4 good brace
while landing a stingree weighing more than
a tha hpff ka a.. 4
| used was a chain and hook such arc used In
| shark fishing. While doing In the sun there
was felt slight movement Of the line, but an
| examination resulted in the conclusion that
the hook had caught In some of the debris
which lined the bottom in that region, This
| illusion was soon e6octually dispelled, for with
| n dart the slack of the strong line went whiz.
zing out,and brought up with a chung" against
| the planking to which it was made fast The
fun began then and lasted nearly an hour be-
| fore the monster was tired out and brought to
the end of the pier, where he was anced by old
Mr.. Seabrook, who had taken in the situation
from distance. A sting from the barb on tho
tail OF tue stingree is said TO be almost us dan
gcrous as a bite of moccasn, aud they are
supposed TO be the rogues that have mysteri-
ously disappeared with anchors and parts of
cables Of craft too large for them to tow any
long distance.
The banks of the rivers, creeks and sounds
which form the inside route between Charles
| ton and Savannah, and in other Southern 10.
calities, are lined with large ridges of small
bitter oysters, known to the people of those
sections us "raccoon oysters" They accumu-
| late with wonderful rapidity, and not unfre-
| quently form reefs IN the channels wherein
the small steamers plying in those waters get
| aground. AT low tide the tops of these ridges
| are out Of the water and the oysters have
taken their name from the fact that raccoons
at such times come down from the woods to
cat them. They are willy bvalve, aud much
better than steel-trap for capturing raccoons
IN rowing from Wappoo Cut, James Island, OPP
posite Charleston, to Edsto Island n distance
of about fifty miles, have seen as many as
four coons upon whose claws the oysters had
foreclosed, to hold firmly until the rising tide
drowned their enemy.
discussion has been going on rs to whether
fish can hear, some maintaining that they can,
while others hold that strict experiments upon
the hearing of fishes have yet to he made. A
| long experience OF fishing through the Ice has
| taught me that when the ice is Transparent
| the fishes were easily frightened by skating
| among the traps, but that when the leo was
thick and white, covered with snow, no
noise by skating or in any other way had any
effect upon them. | have caught many
| pickerel that had taken the hook thirty feet
distant from where hole was being cut for
the setting Of another line. These facts
would seem to go to prove that the fish was
gcided rather by sight than hearing N Y.
| Sun,