Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-08-27
FISHING THEN AND NOW.


FISHING THEN AND NOW.
There are only about a dozen men in
this country who do not like to 90 fish
inc. Many do not 20 once in ter
years, but all the time they think they
will 90 next week or next month, and
they keep thinking of the fun they used
to have thirty or forty years ago, when
they were boys. An old man who had
fished every year for fifty years, and
.enioyed it, came into a business place
the other day limping, with one hand
on the small of his back, and looking
as if he wanted to die.
Been fishing again, eh?" said 4
clerk. what luckp"
30, no luck to speak Of. The fact
is. my fishing days are over" said the
old man with a sigh, rs a pain took
him in the back. "'Tain't what it
used to be, boys, faint what it used to
be. When / was a boy | would get up
before daylight and walk four miles
barefooted, with n tamarack pole and a
strong line. and with 4 piece of pork
rind for bait. | would catch fish till the
cows came home. There were no rods
and reels in those days, and no artiti-
cial hies, that | know of. We would
get a bite, and throw the fish owe our
heads, out on land, and see him flop. l
could catch fish enough for our family
and all the n~9ighborS, and enjoy it.
Later years, when l became a man, [
had the fishing fever Just as bad, and /
would go a hundred miles TO fish, and
spend a barrel of money, and work
hard for 4 week, and it would do me
good. | would be heavier and strong
er when ! came back, and my brain
would work like 4 steam engine. But
now, while 1 have the fever Just as bad,
l I'm all used up. 1t takes me all the
fall and winter to get over my aches
and pains, to get ready for the spring
fishing, and the first day | go out / am
used up for q month. Bones and mus
Giles that | did not know | had years
ago, ache now so | am perfectly sure
where they are. | am too old to walk
much, and too rheumatic to ride in a
boat long, and l have to be petted like
a child. | have to employ a man to
row the boat, put on my bait and take
OIL my fish, and my fingers and thumbs
are getting so rheumatic that / can
hardly turn the handle to the reel.
Another year and | will have my hired
man reel in my fish, while | sit in a
chair on the bank, and her | want to
die. When a man gets so it makes his
back ache to cast his bait in the water,
and his arms acne when he stands up,
his neck ache when he turns around,
his head acne when the sun shines, and
everything aches when it is cloudy and
damp, and his stomach seems to all
drop out an hour or two before lunch
time, he is played out as a fisherman,
and ought to know it. Ishall never go
fishing again, never,
20, you hadn't ought TO give up fish
ing, uncle" said the clerk. Il see by
the paper that the fish are biting splen-
didly out in Waukesha county. One
man caught a hundred pounds of black
bass in OkGuchee yesterday"
moi said the old man, as he took
his hand OF the small Of his back and
Strengthened up to try his back and see
II it was broke. Say, you pack up
my rod and things and get them down
to the two o'clock train, and l will go
and take q Turkish bath, and 90 out
there for q day or two. If l could
catch one fish and feel Just as ! did
when | was a boy,I would give a thous-
and dollars. To feel the same freedom
that did then, with the old tamarack
pole, walking around in the wet grass
baretooted, looking into the water and
seeing the fish lazily watching me rs
though they thoughtI was no account
on earth, and then Doticing the differ
ence OF expression on the mug OF the
fish after I had him out on the bank.
II wouldn't dare wade in a stream
now, and get my feet wet, because l
would catch a cold that would lay me
up for Is month. l used to be from
Genesis 10 Revelations six days in a
week, and / never knew what ii was to
have a cold. l have carried " string Of
ti,A that weighed more than l did, q
mile, aud Whlstled all the way. have
Iccn SO tired / would 60 to sleep while
scaling n fish in the old woodshed, and
was as happy as n person could be.
But it is all changed now. Even pleas
ure is hard work, and I realize that |
must stop fishing forever. But say,
hurry up and get them things to the
depot and the old man who thought
ne never would fish any more went out
TO a tackle store 10 buy hooks, and
went to the depot, forgetting to take
ms Turkish bath. 0, they never give
up fishing.