Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-05-19
NETTING HUGE SALMON.
HOW THE SPORT is CON-
QUOTED ON THE COLUM
Fine Fun for the Netters-Big Fish Ara
Plentiful - Description OF tho
Boat Water Alive With
tho Beauties.

immense net filled it pretty well. In
a short time we reached the place
where the net was TO be thrown out.
The fish run with the tide, so the
men must work when the tide is right,
be it day or night, and we could see
boats all around us, some just getting
the nets out. others pulling them up
and killing the fish caught in the
meshes, while others were coming
swiftly out from the island TO begin
work. AS each man is paid for the
fish he catches there is no law about
turning out, but each starts when
ever he chooses.
A smart man will be on the ground
I at the turn of the tide to make sure
of getting the very place he consid-
ers the best fishing ground, while an
! idler will be half the time in getting
out and at his work. 1t tells in the
| days catch If man is early or late.
Our boat was neither among the
| first or the last. We still had fair
choice of ground. and in a few min
utes the fisherman was tossing the
net over the side and the boatman
being spread out as fast as possible.
The net was over 100 feet long, and
was fitted with sinkers on one edge,
while the other was supplied with
line of floats. By this means it was
held in position in the water, and
! formed sort of fence against which
the fish dashed as they swan up the
| stream. The meshes were rather
large, and the small fish were able to
swim through and continue their way
up the tide, while large ones
were caught by the gllls.
In few minutes the net was all
paid out and the fishermen sat down
TO wait for the first fish to get en-
tangled in the meshes. The boat
men pulled leisurely up the stream
and the row of bobbing floats strung
out behind us looked like little bub-
bles on the surface of the calm water.
Suddenly one of the bubbles was
jerked down and in an instant the
boat was headed for the place where
il had foated q moment before. The
fishermen stretched out over the side
of the boat and caught the net by
the float next TO where the sunk
en- one had been and pulled in the
net hand over hand A splash, a
furry of foam, and the steel-gray
head of a big salmon appeared above
the surface.
The man caught up queer wea-
pom. which 1 had noticed and won
dered about. and struck the fish a
| Al l. II 4
of the bar; then turning it, he thrust
the hook on the other end into the
gills of the half stunned fish. and,
with pull, landed his struggling
captive inside the boat A jerk freed
the net. which sank back into it's
place. The fish was Topping vicious
| ~ about, and the man struck it again
and again with his big iron club be-
fore it succumbed to its fate. We
c-ten speak of eyes as having mo
more expression than a fish's eye"
but | never saw hate and anger more
plainly expressed than in the eyes of
that first salmon.
Meanwhile the lower float had been
bobbing up and down while we were
killing our magnificent captive, and
the boat was turned and pulled rap
| idly back to that end of the net.
| Again the fisherman ducked and
caught the net; again he pulled, but
this time the net did not come home
so easily as he expected Another
pull and yet another before the head
of the fish showed above water. He
was a big fellow, bigger than the
first, and smile replaced the look of
disgust on the fisherman's face as he
drew back his hand to grasp his club.
Just as he was about to strike the
fatal blow the net was jerked from
his hold. Another float but a short
distance further was pulled under.
There were two fish to be landed
now instead Of one.
The net was with difficulty raised
again to the edge Of the boat and the
first fish was secured. He was the
biggest salmon ever saw He must
have weighed nearly hundred pounds
as he was far bigger than one which
saw weighed that touched the
beam at sixty-fve pounds
The monster was thrown into the
boat, stunned by blow, and the man
pulled away at the second fish. That
also was very large one, but not
equal to our monster. Just as the
fisherman was pushing his hook
down to try and catch tho fish by tho
gills the big one just thrown into the
boat gave one flop, plunged over tho
side, falling fair upon the arm which
held the net, tore it free and both
fish were gone.
The two men sat and looked at
each other moment, and / know
they wished they were alone in the
boat that they might find some relief
for their lacerated feeling in Ian
guage which politeness restrained
them from using before me.