San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-05

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EsTAeROoKS TROUT.
| He Caught 1t in a Rocky Mountain Stream
AMI Got Several Pointers.
Now am fast becoming an expert fisher.
man. Badly told me was the best anna
| teur he had ever seen. He made the same
remark to Voss and Davis, but in my case
| I think he meant it, because it talles so
well with my own opinion. 81 was not
| ever thus" started along the shore
| dangling my line and waited results
kept this up for an hour or more without
seeing the sign of a fish and began to think
the whole thing u colossal borel The round
powders under foot rendered walking as
awkward as first attempt at roller skat
ing: the process, in fact, was very similar
was constantly obliged to take high
and erratic steps to keep from falling
Suddenly when / was least prepared, a
speckied streak shot up from some mys
tGrious depth and darted at, my line
was very much surprised indeed had
never seen anything so quick. A streak
Of lightning was messenger boy com
pared to it. The whole performance was
totally unexpected. jerked back the pole
with the energy born of an electric shock
the action was just as involuntary; it was
muscular contraction-l might say gal.
vanic. | could no more have kept that
pole down than could have kept my feet
in scalding water. OF course | lost my
balance and would have slid into the river
had not my fish line become entangled in
a clump of willows which prevented the
catastrophe. But the episode rekindled
my enthusiasm. | would disengage my
line and try it again.
spent the next half hour trampling
bushes, untying Gordian knots and swear.
ing. At length the hook swung free and
| tossed it into the stream. Scarcely had it
touched the surface when there came that
speckled shiver through the water and the
same spasmOdic action on my part. 1t
was a species of surprise party | never
could get used to. AS luck would have il
| hooked the fish, but had jerked his back
teeth out together with the hook. But his
momentum landed him on the shore, when
he proceeded to flap himself back into the
river To prevent this bounced on him
with all four feet. Then ensued a death
struggle never before witnessed We rolled
over and over each other. Fifty times got
a hiplock on him, only to have him wriggle
from my grasp,
Finally from sheer exhaustion we both
lay still. | clutched him by the tail q
have since learned that this is not the
proper end by which to hold fish, What
to do with the little rascal, now that pos
sessed him, was a new problem. did not
like to put him in my pocket, nor yet in
my boot leg. | finally concluded to cut
off piece of my fish line for a string and
tie him to the end of it. This accom-
plished and proceeded on my way-that is
to say, went balancing over the powders,
making wild and impromptu gestures that
would have set Delsarte crazy. | failed
that fish against the side of the mountains:
| banged him on the rocks; dragged him
through thickets until he lost all resem
blance to the original trout. In one hours
time he looked like shetland smelt like
the devil
Things were again growing monotonous,
when new person appeared upon the
scene He was ranchman's boy come
down out of the mountains to fish. He
had holes in the toes of his boots-this cir.
cumstance | subsequently recalled. He
carried small gunnysack under his left
arm; his fishing rod was willow pole, to
which was attached a cotton string. He
had several grasshoppers in a match box
one of which he fastened TO his hook 1t
was evident he had no fy-in fact there
were no flies on him. | watched his move
ments with deep interest. Without hest
tating moment he waded into the river
and commenced to tn row his line first to
one side and then the other. 1t seemed to
me he caught a trout every time his hook
touched water. 1t was wonderful The
little fish he would pull to him without
much ceremony. The two Founders he
would sometimes fool with for several
minutes, and finally haul them in as
docile as lambs. All the fish he caught
were put into the gunnysack
| gazed at him green with envy till he
disappeared around the bend, and then !
proceeded to initiate his example. If it
was only necessary to wade into the river
and slash right and left |, too, would
catch trout. So ''accoutred as | was I
plunged in" The first step / made went
in over my boot tops. Alas! there were no
holes in the toes; they were water tight
Except over the tops) and each boot held
four gallons. was simply water logged,
1 couldn't move-or rather couldn't help
moving. That wild dashing river had been
aching for something upon which to ex-
pend its wasted energies. In less time
than it takes to tell it was converted into
an understood wheel and went rolling over
and over.
How under heaven managed to fioun-
der out | cannot tell, but did get out
was two miles from camp and could never
hope to get there under such an hydraulic
pressure would fain take off my boots,
but they declined to bulge. had not
stood on my head for years and could not
acrOTnDlich Snph uvrnnoSticc handioonna1