The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-10-30

| iHs hlnseiI clear out OF the water, and giving
/ zest to the sport by his continuous struggles,
| keeping me in doubt as to whether the victory
| will be mine or his, until he has been .splayed
| down" and safely lifted from his native element
and is floundering in my boat.
| have fished all over Georgia and Florida
| and for real sport / have never found better
! waters than those Of Kinchafoonee and Muck
| alec creeks, which run together about milo
and half above Albany and then flow into
/ Flint river half mile below. Both of these
! streams rise in Marion county, and their
! course is through limestone region. In upper
| Georgia they would be called rivers, being
fully as large as Yellow and Alcovy rivers.
| They are fed by springs and when there has
been no rains to bring in surface water they are
almost as clear as crystal. The rocky banks are
covered Nth maiden hair FERNS hanging down
IN graceful layers natures beautiful green
lambrequins. Iii the springtime the scenery
along the banks of these twin streams is a feast
for the eye that has any appreciation of the
beauties of nature.
The trout that we catch in these waters
vary in size, ranging in weight all the way
from half pound to six pounds. Occasionally
a larger one Is caught, and heard of one that
was caught on trap in Muckalee last week
that weighed nineteen pounds, but l didn't
see it. These creek trout do not grow so large
as the lake trout that are caught in Florida,
but they are much more active and gamy,
and when one is hooked he
makes things lively. With rod
and line / have known twenty-six trout,
weighing forty-nine pounds, taken from the
limpid waters Of the Muckalee by one angler
in single day; and, in the fall of the year, L
have known good fisherman to pull in thirty
odd of the beauties with bob. With bob
the process is much faster, and more ground
Is covered in day. There is no stopping to
catch minnows for bait when the bob is used.
and good boat1nan can make run of ten
miles, up stream and back, in day
One of the best fishermen, and the best all
round sportsman that L ever knew, is
Colonel w. w. Parker, of Macon.
For several years past he has been
coming down to Albany about the first of De-
cember. From then until, say, about the
middle of March he sports with dog and gun,
bagging, with companion, on an average of
sixty partridges every day he goes out Before
the first of April he abandons the field sports
for those of the stream. Dink Melvin. a
famous boatman, now becomes the coloners
companion. They have boat in the Kincha-
foonee and another in the Muckalee, and they
will "try their luck" first in one stream and
then in the other Altogether Colonel Parker
caught over three hundred trout last
spring. The colonel fishes like he
hunts-for the sport there = is in it-and
his friends enjoy the fish and game that he
brings in. He doesn't like to bob for trout,
but prefers to whip the stream with minnow.
hook a fish and hea him sing his
song. With him there is not only poetry but
music in filing, and the moment he gets
strike he commences to sing, in his unimitable
way:
"Ephram Cordle John Decay
Ole Mis- Trout she's goin' away,
Ephriam Cordle John Decay
Ole Miss Trout just come my way"
When trout takes n1innow he goes to
bottom before he swallows it, and it
is necessary to give him slack
line, and. where the water. is deep,
perhaps half asmnute's time in order to make
sure Of hooking him, The colonel gauges
himself by his song, and when he gets down to
. Come my way"
he Clerks" and the fun with ''ole Miss Trout"
begins. When he has worried the fish down
he leads 1t round to the stern of the boat and
Dink lifts 1t in, in the performance of which
act he takes up the colonePs refrain and adds
one more line to the song:
"Ole Miss Trout she's done come home"
Dink Melvin knows every nook and Granny
In the two creeks and has name, suggested
by some incident, for nearly every
shoal bend, rapid OF eddy. "Solid
Comfort" is the name that he gave to GER
tain place in the Muckalee, and I can
think of nothing better with which to round
off this screed than to relate the incident that
suggested the name. wrote up ''Solid Com
fort'' in the News and Advertiser last spring,
but it will be new to most of the readers of
THE CONSTITUTION.
In the spring of last year Dink was padding
Colonel Parker while the latter minnowed
the Muckalee for trout. The colonel, as every
body who had ever fished or hunted with him
knows, always carries along plenty of bait and
ammunition, as the case may be,
and never starts out without supply of ice
water. On this occasion he had ice water and
mint julip aboard his boat, and when that
particular locality now known by all the anglers
on the beautiful Muckalee as "Solid Comfort
was reached, the colonel made some such remark
to Dink as the governor of South Carolina once
made to the governor of North Carolina.
Dink knows themeaning of all such remarks,
and is not slow to act upon them.
The boat was stopped and the colonel pre-
pared to refresh himself. When he had
poured out about ''three fingers
Of his favorite beverage, he cast his minnow
ahead and held his rod in one hand and the
glass of julip in the other.
Just as he commenced to sip the julip,
trout struck and was hooked.
"Ah' said the colonel, after a sip Of the
iulip, and as he held the ice cold beverage in
one hand and the bending rod in the other,
"this is what call solid comfort-a trout in
one hand and mint julip in the other"
Dink Melvin was so convulsed with laughter
at the colonel's cool iocundity that he came
near losing his equilibrium and falling out the
boat, and ever since then he has called that
place in the creek "Solid Comfort"
III. NJ. MCINTOSH.
Albany. Ca. October 90, 1888.