Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-10-13
BUFFALO FISH.
Big Ones FouRd in Great Numbers in tn,
 Ohio River.

 Big Ones FouRd in Great Numbers In tho
 Ohio River.
 The captain of an Ohio river side- wheel steam boat was regaling circle of enthusiastic anglers the other even- ing with accounts of some of the Ohio fish and fishing.
 But the best, most honest, faithful, all the year roun', fair weather m foul fellow is our buffalo fish," he said. "IIe never declines any particu- lar kind of food just because it ain't seasoned to suit his taste, and he is no respecter of persons The darky pick anniny with his cane pole, cotton cord line, and cheap hook is every bit as good company for him as million dollar tobacco planter with a split bamboo. There are three different species or races of the big river suck CTS, or buffalo fish. There are, besides, numerous smaller, poorer fish, like the red horse and black sucker, but those are only the small fry. The book writers call these varieties I. bubulus, l. urus, and | cypinella, and what the deuce r stands for 1 don't know, un- less it's ignoramus, for these are an awful stupid fish, in spite of their good points
 They are found in the deeper river channels of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio, and smaller tributary branches. They hang out in the same sort of places that the river catfish and gudgeons do. The average weight is about six or eight pounds, but they are frequently captured weighing twenty pounds, and now and then one of thirty pounds reaches the market. Like all of their kind, they are bottom feeders and spend their lives nosing in the mud. They eat crayfsh, fresh water shrimps, hellgamites, caddis grubs and fresh-water clans and mus sels. Of course, they only eat the young of the latter, but of these they make many fat meal, cracking the thin shells easily with their rubbery jaws. They do not differ much in flavor from the common river suckers of the east, being muddy and coarse and strong, and, worst of all, full of bones. Never theless, they are staple article of food in the Ghio valley, and more of them are sold than any other three fish put together. In the larger river towns the fishermen drive big ox-teams loaded with buffalo fish into the main street and on Saturday nights, and by torehlight sell off the entire lots to eager buyers. These are, of course, nearly all seined, but they will bite a hook, and it is fun to catch them on a cloudy or misty day.
 Any such weather you can see score of slziffs put out from the little town where l was raised, each with 8 couple of boys or men in ready to sling in the suckers. They all use cut poles or common bamboos, linen lines and ordinary two-for-a-cent ringed hooks. Leaders? Bless me, no! Why, most of those fishermen never even heard of such fixings. The hook used is small only No. sand the great bait is young fresh-water clans. Garden worms will do; crayfsh are better; snails are fine; but clans are best of all You first hit the clam lightly against the thwart to break the shell, and then stick him on, shell and all. Every body uses at least two hooks and some use three. Often the buffaloes take hold so fast that they'll have three on at time and then there's lively work. They are not game fish by a great deal. but they put up a spunky fight for few minutes, though they die easily and give up after two or three rushes- Their great forte is to make for submerged log or root and take a round turn that ends that line for all future use. Their great weight enables them often to do this on their first q a sf, for fraadop,
 ssThey have big coarse scales, that shine like polished bronze in the sun when they lie in the boat, and with their strong fms and broad backs they are really fine fish to look at. all but their jaws or heads. From this point of view they always remind me of sucking pig. My two little girls Sue and Jennie, went out one day for buff faloes, and they brought home boat load They got one hundred and sixty-three in the afternoon, and the biggest one weighed sixteen pounds. Pretty good for a pair of Ohio girls only eight and eleven years old, eh?
 Why, say, l don't know who the chap was-I think it was Shakespeare who said There's a sucker born every minute" concluded the captain. with last puff at his smoldering corn cob pipe, '.but if he'd come out after buffaloes with me some hay morning he'd take it back and say: There's dozen born every eighteen seconds" IN. Y. Times.
 Her Idea of It.
 Mir Newedd-Well, we are begin.