The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-16
spEARnSe F1sH AT NIGHT.
Strange Sights shown by the Jack Light in
the st. Lawrence River.
New York Sun.


Strange Sights shown by the Jack Light in
the st. Lawrence River.
| New York Sun.
] He druv me clean out Of the boat said st.
Lawrence fisherman as the jack light illuminated
a long silvery fish that he was pummeling with
patent headacher Il took him for pickerel,
and the minute / landed him he got of the
| spear and began a-snappin and goin for me,
so jest lit out and let him have the hull boat
to himself They're regular fresh-water sharks. ,
The great fish was gar nearly four feet long
| one of the most powerful fishes of the st. Law
renee and the great lakes, unfit for food, with q
long, slender muzzle, armed with powerful
| saw-like teeth. The boats were rugged with
braziers over the how, in which burned pine
knots that cast a lurid light about the smooth
waters Of the lake and illumined the depths
far below As the boat drifted slowly along,
propelled by an occasional push, all the curious
objects OF the bottom came plainly into view.
The green and purple grasses assumed strange
ghostly tints in the ruddy glare and the white
sand patches that appeared here and there glist-
ened like beds of silver. The light penetrated
! the darkest hooks and corners, starting the
| black bass, which darted away in alarm. DuskY
cells were outlined upon the bottom remaining
quiet until they felt the spear as if paralyzed
by the sudden blaze of light The chubby rock
bass started upward as if attracted by the glow;
the plckerel moved slowly away, as If hall
life illustrated as many different traits and
| habits
IF one. of them fellers ever gets hold on you,
continued the dripping oarsman. referring to the
gar, he'll make his mark They come around
/ here by spells Sometimes you won't see one
for year. and then they come with rush.
They amt afraid of nothin'. A man by the
name of Bailey, that lived down the river here a
piece, went out fshin one day. and f0uled long
silk line. He didn't want to lose it, so he
stripped and went down in about fourteen feet
of water to unwind it from the snag. was
ishin' about hundred feet away, and was
watchin' him, and it seemed 50 long afore be
come up that was jest goin to pull up and go
over, when up he come and gev yell that was
enough to make your hair stand on end He
hollered for me and threw up his arms.
i up anchor and soon had hold on him and
Jerked him into the boat, and l tell
you he was a sight to look at He
was iist gashed all over, soft you'd thought he'd
been gon' over circular saw. The poor Teller
couldn't say nuthin.. happened to have some
salt in the boat, SO put that on and it soon
stopped the blood. Then he told me how it was.
When he went down he had hold on the line.
and had got most down to the hook when he felt
jab in the side, jest as if sword had cut him,
and turnin he see it was a big garfsh In a
/ second the critter had shot by and come for him
again, and took him in the arm, and in the strug-
gle to get out of the way he got wound in the
line and couldn't get up or down. While he was
kickin' and tryin to get away the fish lest made
target of him until the line broke and he got
clear.
There's muskrats nest" said the poIer. as
the glare of the jack threw mass of weeds into
sudden brightness They're regular night ami
mails" he added. 'sYou Jest watch the water
! while | stir 'em upS He thrust his oar down
into the mass and in a moment several dark
forms were seen swimming from the nest One
came up near the top of the water. as If at
tracted by the light which proved a potent
charm for many of the insect tribe myriads of
| which ffuttered about
Look there!n exclaimed the poler again.
pointing to a half-submerged rock on which the
little form Of water snake glistened. jest
wait minute and III show you some curious
fshin'.' Taking his delicate fly rod, he put ON a
live minnow from the pail and gently landed. it
in front of the reptile. Hardly moment
elapsed before the latter hadit and was writing
| In the air, winding about the line. and finally
dropping to the water and escaping as it was
not hooked its teeth being merely caught in the
bait.
There's place up here" continued the boat
man, about three miles they call Snake Roll
| where Tveseen some queer sights They call it 8
| roll because the snakes are often seen roln'
down bill. The first time ever see it see a
ball about as big as large-sized cabbage come
rollin' down hill toward me as went up. One
minute it would go kinder fast, then hold up a
bit, and almost STOP | thought it was mighty
curious, and when / got to it tell you it gev
me turn There it was, ball of snakes the
heads a-Stickin out on all sides, and a-hissini l
was afeared to touch it. as there was so many
4 that if they were all scattered would be bound
TO run over some of 'em, so let em roll on
Hear thatg" said the talkative guide, present
| ly, as we moved in toward sandy shore, and
several splasheS disturbed the smooth surface OF
| the lake II don't know for sartin' but that
sounded to me like mice
mice in the water2g asked one of the party
i .'Sartin. Mice swim jest ike duck, and
down by the mouth of the river they take to the
| water like em. happened to know this way:
went down the river fshin' with gentleman
and one day he says to me, Jim, Jest save the
stomachs of them trout as | want to see what
they feed on The next day he found that eight
| or ten out of twenty-five trout had been feedin'
on mice. / thought it was kinder curious eatin,
for trout but the man was pulln' for said there
wasn't nothin curious in it. and wanted me to
| get some live mice for bait He said the mice
went into the water at the spawning time of
fishes, mostly at night, and as the eggs are laid
| in shoal water they would dive down to
the bottom after them, and in dom this the trout
/ would get 'em. Since then I've often seen
mice a-leapin' overheard. and had em swim right
under the jack light. This same gentleman told
me that he was raiser of trout and that mice
hurt his business more than anything else. They
| would dive into the troughs and eat the eggs
| and the only way to keep them of was to cover
| the trough with netting. A bassn take mouse
| as quick as q wink and I've seen 'em take q
| muskrat and duck"
The distinctively night animals cannot be bet
ter noticed than by the aid of 10-jack light
| Even the night hawks seemed to be attracted by
our light, and darted about the flame and
i through the smoke. The sharp click of their
bills however told that the insects which lowered
about were really the attraction Looms often
moniac laughter, and when skirting the shore a
mink will occasionally be seen standing motion
less with amazement at the sight of the gleam-
| ing light
/ Prairie Dogs Coming East.
L lid Il