The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1894-09-06


Weigh Hundreds of Pounds.
Don't talk 10 a man from southern
California about black bass fishing, or
he Will make Your best lass story fee
tle, pitifal thing He viii 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
a, much as gulping. Voice doubt, AID
the man from san Diego will pull from
his fishing traps something that looks
like one fuked ships anchor. That Is
what he fishes with Tor the strange,
monStrous black bass in the bays and
about the islands of the southern Cali
fornia coast. They don 1 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 10 trout.
The men who catch these fish that
sometimes weigh 900 pounds call them
jowish--a corruption OF laneiish. The
last Is translation of one Of their Mex
lean names Probably they were called
juncfish from the fact that they are
plentiful along the shores in the late
spring and early summer No matter
bow he got his name, the Jewish Is a
wonder. He looks like a bass fisherman 5
nightmare when they get him out Of
the water Every fin and mark is there,
magnited out of all proportion. His
scales are as big as half dollars, his
mouth is a gaping chasm and the spikes
of his dorsal fin are bigger than tenpen-
ny nails
The process of catching a jewish Is
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 l. treated to smelt fishing. Then
comes tho smelt's turn in the success
sion He is impaled, and the fisherman,
with heavier rod and a larger hook,
goes to the other side of the wharf for
halibut or a sea bass
When the bait, dead or alive, is ready,
inc Hl1ujtSb al lilf'l man VII tii' " iis'li
picks up the line. He swings the two
or three pounds of bait around his head
like an Indian does the bolas and hurls
it seward Tho great line, as thick as
lead pencil, coils out after tho hook,
and that is nearly all until the fish
comes along.
Incidentally toothpick, play quite a
part in the fishing. Each fisherman
takes "A handful with him when he leaves
the breakfast table They stick one in
a crack ut the top of "a pile and loosely
loop the line around it. The shore part
of the line is coiled on the wharf, and
the end is fast to an empty powder keg
or some such thing that will float well.
On the toothpick is stuck bit OF white
rag. and as half dozen or a dozen lines
are used at once there is string OF
these little signal flags al along the
dock The fisherman has n6ihing more
to do for awhile than to watch the flags.
When one goes down, it means that
something has taken the bait. After
gathering in the barracuda heads or
the impaled halibut the jewish starts
away like the locomotive On II fast eX-
press Down goes th' siBhai nag
Everybody around runs for the line.
They know they cant hold the fish, but
the resistance makes II hardor ior MN
and helps them To IRE MN oul-'he III
innate object Inc great nsh 'iocS not
struggle at first, but moves steadily sea
ward, pulling me llhe through 'ho
men 5 hands. occasionally Wneh inc
flsh weighs less IMAM sVo pouile'S' ,hey
can tlro nm out without PAVING out AZ
OF the me nut usuaily II al goes anu
presently the struggle Is transferred 10
the water Inc empty poWaer heS
bounccs over the water most erra'lcai-
~, the men cil''se IL III II poa'' anu
when they eaten III hoiu on men inc
real fun OF JewhshlhS begins. IL Is JUST
sport for fish OF any SIZE TO Tow a
whitehall around the Day, ana luis pref
ty rough salllng III MS wake. AS soon
as he realizes that there Is ahght ON the
jewish seems To forget that nc Is astalu
bottom hsh. All me steam OF ms oiack
bass ancestors gets riley and he pluhgeS
and turns, twists ana strikes. some
where down IN the cavern OF ms quiet
he has an arrangement OF bone IKE a
couple OF millstohes' ana wheh ne as
covers he cannot SPIT out the nook ne
tries to swallow IL ana grind the llne
apart, so the SLACK mas 10 he caretully
attended to. There are some tremendous