The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-12-06
THIS is q FISH
"A Texan Reviews the Vaccinations of the
Channel Cat.

ieXan ranchman on Sound steamboat
the other night, waving a little knot
Of enthusiastic anglers away with both
hands. Don't talk to me about sllit.
tering for muSkalonge, trolling for
black bass and casting for trout anC
salmon. | and every other Texan that
knows a good thing when he sees il
can tell you of fish that can out-jumr
and out-measure and Outright any
swimming creature you can trot out.
He was one of cluster of men gath.
cred in dark corner just abaft the
wheel house on the upper deck. and the
after-dinner chat had wandered around
to fun with rod and line. A young fell
low who Travelled for a Providence
hardware firm had just been recalling
some famous days on the Rangeleys in
Maine in times before summer hotels
and railways and guides had destroyed
the wilderness. The enthusiasm with
which ne dwelt on the capture of
seven-pounder, its cat-lile rush and
leap for the fly, the strike and the
fierce fight for freedom, and the gazing
by the Indian at the end had stirred
the old-time sporting blood of the
grizzled cattle king.
What fish is that?" asked the college
professor, who is u salmon crank, with
sceptical knock of his pipe against
the camp stool
The channel catfish is the animal
I'm speaking about" began the old
man. settling down comfortably and
tlItinCr biS ahoi, ,1y in. ba hna
house, and in order that there shall
be no misunderstanding l want to say
right at the beginning that this Texas
chap is no relation to your darned slow.
stupid, muddy-eyed old pond catfish
here in the north. SchoolbOys cannot
sit on the bank with thread lines tied
to tWig poles and fish for our cat with
bent pins. If they did they would
come home wiser and wetter if the
tackle held out, for a Texan cat could
yank good-sized boy into the branch
and half drown him without trouble.
All the streams and creeks that lie to
the southwest of the Red river in our
state contain this game fighter, and
those who have caught both fish regard
1t as far superior in courage, quickness
and strength to the black bass. Certain
ly its flesh is far more toothsome.
1--WE hear very little and read less
about this species, and many do not
know any of the striking differences
between this and the common blue cat
fish. The channel cat has fins nearly
white, sides pale blue, and tail very
gracefully forlled. In shape it is more
slender and delicate than the ordinary
fish, and it is dotted with black all
along the body in several lines. 1t
utters a loud and startling croall when
taken from the water, as if in hearty
protest against its capture. The flesh
Is firm, tlaky and of beautiful salmon
tint. 1t never weighs over six pounds.
THE shallow, undermining brooks
are its haunts. for, unlike its cousin,
the blue cat (Which, by the way, grows
to weigh 25 pounds, it never fingers in
stagnant lakes or lagoons 1t feeds on
the bottom, as a rule, but will rise
freely to minnOw, grasshopper, worm,
or even fly. AT the upper end of still
pool, where the ripple of the swift wa
ter dies away in dimple curls, you
will take him early in the morning and
at sunset. At noon he lies torpid on the
bottom in cool, Swallowed spots.
One of the prettiest ways to charm
a channel cat is on Il silver spinner.
You dri& down creek with the current
late in the afternoon, and cast from
side to side with about fifty feet of line.
Wherever the water twists over a rock
or wrinkles around a sunken stump
you send your whirling toy, and reel
ing slowly in you will entice any chan
mel fish that may be near. In just such
little lairs they lie when the shadows
grow long and sometimes the creek for
rods will be a-splash with the commo-
ton of their feeding.
lone uses a long, slender rod and a
light silk line, for the tackle must be
delicate and strong. Once a cat is
struck he becomes a veritable maniac
He surges along the top, and then in
circles of bubbles, dives to the very bed
of the stream. Along the bottom he
will tear at a breakneck pace that
makes the reel scream to follow, and if
there be any snagS land what Texan
branch but has its brush and roots and
fallen trees then let your prayer for
help ascend. If the channel cat is a
dangerous fish in clear, swift water,
among rocks and tree stumps he is a
very devil A big one will fight for
fifteen or twenty minutes before you
can kill him.
IF one desires to use flies he must use
very bright colors. There is very gay
blue miller that dances along the edges
of the creeks in our country of which
the cat is passionately fond, and there
is fly tied by most of our cat fisher
men in close imitation of it cslled the
smoky blue In this way of fishing
one must cast from boat always and
toward the shore, for it is under the
overhanging clay banks that the fish
lie to catch stray moths and hoppers
If fishing with a minrow you may float
off into mid-stream, for the game will
take small fish any and everywhere
and all the time.
"No one ever knew the channel cat
to desert a fisherman. You don't have
to carry fifteen kinds of bait with YOU
and then always find he wants the six
teenth. lie takes what he can get and
swallows it deep into a mouth as wide
spreading and atfectionate as that of
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