The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-10-30
PISCATORIAL SPORT.
FISHTNG IN THE LAKES AND
sTREAMs OF SOUTH GEORGIA.

and Streams OF Southwest Georgia" and here
goes.
In order to keep within the bounds Of that
God-favored portion of the empire state of the
south known as southwest Georgia. and as I
prefer to discuss real fishing rather than draw
fancy pictures from the imagination, what I
write must be local and more or less personal.
The man who lives in these parts and either
because he thinks he cannot spare the
time, or because he doesn't want to, or
doesn't know how. never "goes a-fishing," has
the unstinted sympathy of the better side Of
my nature, This world is full of people who
never had good time in their lives, and
wouldn't know one If they were to meet It in
the big road, and the fellow who can't fish, or
doesn't even want to go fishing when -"the
spring time has come, the flowers are in
bloom" and the forests are green with their
now foliage, is one OF them. l have quite as
little respect for the memory of the staid old
Latin poet who wrote:
. . "Eut as to fish mongers,
They are an tnveterate race and yield to mona
In shameless conduct"
as he could have had for the "inveterate race"
he reyiled He was doubtless one OF
those sedate old characters, who had
more poetry in his head than
in his soul, and was ignorant of the fascinating
days''-I mean the days in which the ancient
poet wrote angling must have been one of the
undiscovered arts. and the sports of the rod
ard line were probably unknown. But no, it
occurs to me upon reflection that that PROPOSE
ton will not do, for the question asked at Gal
lilee, "Canst thou draw out leviathan with an
hook, or his tongue with o cord which thou
lettest downV' is pretty good evidence Of the
fact that the fishermen Of Judea did not de-
pend entirely upon their nets. And then, too,
n
in the good old book from which l am
now quoting, and some of them are bigger
than any that | shall tell although / have
been an enthusiastic fisherman ever since /
was boy. Simon Peter said, II go fishing"
Now, Simon Peter, no doubt intended to 20
alone to steal off to some sequestered spot,
where. all alone, he could spit on his bait and
silently cast his line, with no one to disturb
him, or mako noise to scare away the fishes
and the fact that his companions spoke up and
said, 1--WE also go with thee" is no proof of
the fact that he wanted their company or that
they were "fsh mongers." and fished entirely
with nets.
Speaking of net fishing or seining as we call
it down here, Captain Richard Hobbs and
Sheriff Felix Edwards do their fishing that
way. do not wish to cast any insinuations,
for Captain Hobbs belongs to the church, but
it is fact susceptible of easy proof that the
fish won't "bite" for him or Felix Edwards
either, and when Captain Hobbs says, IT go a
dozen other Albanians who can't catch fish
with rod and line, say, 1--WE also 20 with
thee" or words to that effect. and straightway
they gather together six or eight negroes to
drag the seize, and HE away to some lake or
pond. Whfn they Ego fishing" they mean
business, and want fish by the wagon load.
l once had very devout but overly nice
young divine, whom l CHANGED to meet upon
my return from q day spent with boat and
boatman and rod and line ION the creek" to
offs
sport and recreation. He was actually shocked
when, after he had admired the fine string of
trout hat carried, / told him would be glad to
have him accompany me the next time went.
Perhaps my appearance, in my well-worn fish
ing suit, wet muddy and even little torn,
had something to do with the disdain with
which he rejected my invitation. Be this as it
may, / was little "cut" by his remarks and
manner, and felt called upon to remind him
that fishing was not only respectable in the
eyes OF the greatest man that ever lived upon
the earth, but that he oven went among
fishermen and performed miracles
in the capacity Of fisherman. That was be-
fore Grover Cleveland had been inaugurated,
and he and Colonel Dan Lamont had had one
of their periodical fishing frolics, or could
have referred to the fact that even the presi-
dent of the United States sometimes went
fishing and even had the reputation of being a
good fisherman"
i love to ego fishing" and am stickler
For some reason which have never been able
to understand or fully appreciate, fishermen,
as far back as we can trace the human race,
have been looked down upon--not so much In
point of integrity, perhaps, as with reference
to "tone" and general character. And the
better the tisherman-that is to say, the
more accomplished one may be in the art of
angling-the more liable no is to be regarded,
especially by those who have no love for the
sport, rs u sort of slack wad in business circles
wi Thrif
specialists as the inveterate fiddler, who Is
"iit for nothing else"
The ponds, lakes and streams of southwest
Georgia abound in fishes of various kinds, but
the Dream and trout called black bass fur
Their north) are the sportive anglers favorites.
The first good fishing that we have is in
the early part of April. when the blue
or speckled Dream begin to "bed" in the
ponds and lakes. Catching Dream on tho beds
Is like shooting birds on the ground all YOU
have to do is to find bed, bait your hook and
cast it in. When Dream are on the beds and
attending strickly TO business, they are hungry
and will take anything from q wigling eel
worm to dead cricket or grasshopper The
beds vary in size according to the number of
Dream in the lake, or that portion of it selected
for a bedding place. The fish, the males and
females joining in the work, fan out with their
tails and fms little basins or nests
varying from twelve to eighteen inches across,
and in these the females deposit their
eggs. With this the female paft of the bust
ness ends until the next month, when they re-
turn to the beds and lay again. AS soon as
they have deposited their eggs the females 20
back 10 deep water (they usually bed where
the water is shallow, leaving the males to
keep other fishes from DESTROYING the
| eggs and TO take care Of the young for two or
three days. Fishermen differ as to the length
OF time consumed by the natural process of
| incubation, but the cocks usually desert the
J beds after the third day, and leave the Young,
which can be seen swimming near the surface
| OF the water, TO take care of themselves
In Dream fishing 1t is a rare thing that n
| female is caught on the beds. The males are
| larger than the females, and are easily distin-
| pushed by their red or golden bellies They
are gany fish, and one weighing anywhere
from three-fourths Of pound to "a pound and
half will make a line sing and give the angler
who uses light and timber rod an interesting
| 'pult"
Trout also abound in nearly all the ponds
and lakes in this region. aud are easily caught
by the expert angler. Early in tho season,
minnows, which are generally easily caught
| with the fly hook on some sand bar near the
shore, must be thrown TO them. Later In the
season they will strike a troll or bob
But the very poetry of fishing is to DO had
only ON clear running stream, with light
boat and good bcatman TO slowly move You
| x..ha la z