Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-11-10

Kcg-Membe-s of the Bass Family That
Weigh Hundreds OF Pounds.
Don't talk to man from southern
California about black bass fishing, or
he Will make your best bass story fee
bic, pitiful thing lie will tell You of
black bass that could swallow the big
gest days catch you ever made and
take i'll your creel for dessert without
as much as gulping. Voice doubt, and
the man from San Diego will pull from
his fishing traps something that looks
Ike one fiuked ships anchor. That is
what he fishes with for the strange,
monstrous black bass in the bays and
about the islands of the southern Cali
fornia coast They don't call them black
bass down there, though the fish COM
missioners say they are, and the natu-
ralists have identified them by fins and
bones and form with the gamy two and
three Founders that make men tickle
even TO trout.
The men who catch these fish that
sometimes weigh Loco pounds cali them
jewfish-a corruption of junefish. The
last is translation of one of their Mex.
lean names. Probably they were c. He'd
| .junefish from the fact that they are
plentiful along the shores in the late
spring and early summer. No matter
how he got his name, the Jewish is a
| wonder He looks like bass fisher,nan's
| nightmare when they get him out of
the water. Every fin and mark is there,
| IIagnitied out Of al proportion. His
scales are as big as half dollars, his
| mouth is a gaping chasm, and the spikes
Of his dorsal fir are bigger than tenpen-
| ny nails.
The process of catching Jewish is n
: progressive and interesting one. The
, fishers begin at the beginning. With
! bent pins or dip nets they look for min
| nows or sardelles. The quarry secured,
it promptly becomes bait. and the con-
! course is treated To sInelt fishing. Then
comes the smells turn in the sUcces-
sion. He is impalod, and the fisherman.
with a heavier rod and larger hook,
goes TO the other side of the wharf for
! a halibut or a sea bass.
| When the bait, dead or alive, l. ready.
! the stoutcst armed man on the wharf
picks mp the line. he swings the two
or three pounds of bait around his head
| like an Indian does the bolas and hurls
| it seaward. The great line, as thick as
| a lead pencil, coils ont after the hook,
and that is nearly all until the fish
comes along.
Incidentally toothpicks play quite q
part i'll the fishing. Each fisherman
takes a handful with him when he leaves
1 1,-ra If roll, ,.l- -,
a crack at the top of pile and loosely
loop the line around it. The shore part
! of the line is cooled on the wharf. and
| the end Is fast t. an empty powder kcg
! or some such thing that viii float well
| On the toothpicll IS stuck hit Of white
| rag, and rs half dozen CT dozen lines
| are used at once there is string OF
! these little signal flags all along the
! dock. The fisherman has nothing more
to do for awhile than 10 watch tie flags.
! When one goes down, II means that
/ something has taken the bait After
! gathering i'll the barracuda heads or
the impaled halihut the Jewish starts
away like the locomotive on fast ex-
! press. Down goes the signal flag.
Everybody around runs for the line.
! They know they cant hold the fish. but
| the resistance makes it harder for him
/ and helps them TO tire him out-the ul-
F. innate object. The great fish does not
: struggle at first, but moves steadily sea-
ward, pulling the line through the
mems hands. Occasionally, when the
fish weighs less than 200 pounds. they
can tire him ont without paving out all
of the line, hut usually it all goes, and
! presently the struggle is transferred to
the water The empty powder keg
| bounccS over the water most erratical.
! ", the men chase IL in boat, and
/ when they catch it hold on. Then the
real fun of jewfishing begins 1t is lust
! sport for fish OF any size to tow a
! whitehall around the bay. and 1t is pref
! " rough sailing in his wake. As soon
| as he realizes that there = a fight ON he
! jewish seems To forget that ne is staid
bottom fish All the steam of his black
bass ancestors gets riley. and he plunges
and turns, twists and strikes. Some
where down in the cavern of his gullet
/ he has an arrangement of bone like n
couple of millstones. ard when he dis
| covers he cannot spit out the hook he
tries to swallow it and grind the line
! apart, SO the slack has TO be carefully
! attended to. There are some tremendous
fish in San Diego bay. and though the
hooks are made of hand forged tool steel
they have snapped many. of them.
If everything goes well, if the hook
holds and the fish does not grind the
line, if he steers away from submerged
| buoy chains and docks, the fight must
end in the death of the fish. Sometimes
he lows the boat for three hours before
his strength is gone and he is hauled
to the surface. The death struggle is
worst of all. The fish is dragged to the
top and lies there. apparently all but
dead. Then they drive a harpoon into
him. and tie sting of the steel starts all
his life again. The harpoon line holds
him near the surface, and he makes a
great race for little w4ile, but, of
| course, it cannot last. At the end the
! fish is towed back to the dock. and there
the floating poDul.tior of Sam n;o@,o &c