The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-03-27
TIE TEXAS CATFISH.
Ono of tho Greatest Fighters Of
tho Inland Waters.
= Fish Tina: Is Always Ecady for Bito
and One That Puts the tlost
Seasoned Sportsman on
Ills Aicttic.

Ills Aicttic.
! oh, go way. go 'way," sighed an old
! Texan rarchman on sound steam
boat the other night waving Il knot of
enthusiastic anglers away with both
hands. Don't talk to me about sllit-
| tcrng for mushcllungc, trolling for
black bass, and casting for trout and
salmon. land every other Texan that
| knows good thing when he secs ii can
tell you OF Il fish that can out-jump and
| out-measurc and outright any swim
ming creature you can trot out
He was one of the cluster of men
gathered i'll IL dark corner just abaft
the whcclhousc on the upper deck, and
the after-dinncr chat had wandered
around to fun with rod and line. A
young fellow had just been recalling
some famous days on the Rangcleys in
Maine in times before summer hotels
and railways and guides had destroyed
the wilderness The enthusiasm with
which he dwclt upon the capture of Il
scven-poundcr, it's cat-lilsc rush and
leap for the fly, the strike and the
tierco fight for freedom, and the gaffing
by the Indian at the end had stirred the
old-time sporting blood of the grizzlcd
cattle king.
What fish is that?" asked New
York Sun man, who is salmon crank,
with q sicptical 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
fitting his chair back against the wheel
house, and in order that there shall be
10 misunderstanding l want to say
right at the beginning that this Texas
chap is no relation of your darned slow,
stupid, muddy-eycd old pond catfish
here in the north. Schooboys 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 wcttcr if the tackle
held out, for Il Texan cat could yanll Il
good-sizcd boy into the branch and
half-drown him without trouble. All
the streams and creeks that lie to the
southwest of the Rcd river in our state
contain this game fighter. and those
who have caught both fish regard it as
far superior in courage, quiclincss and
strength to the black bass. Certainly
its flesh is far more toothsomc.
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 Il tail very
gracefully forl5cd. 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. It ut
tcrs loud and startling croal, when
taken from the water as ii in hearty
! protest against its capture. The flesh
is firm, ilally and of Il beautiful salmon
tint 1t never weighs over six pounds.
| One of the prettiest ways to charm q
channel eat is on silver spinner. You
drift 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 n rock
or wrinkles around Il sunkcn stump
| you send your whirling toy, and reel
| ing slowly in you will enticc any chan
| mel fish that may be near. One uses n
| long, slender rod and light silk line,
| for the tackle must be delicate and
| strong. Once cat is struck he be-
| comes vcritablc maniac. He surgcs
along the top, and then in circles Of
bubbles dives to the very bed of tho
| stream. Along the bottom he will tear
at n brcalsnccl pace that makes tho
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 Il danger
| Gus fish in clear, swift water, among
rocks and tree stunps he is Il very
devil. big one will fight for fifteen
or twenty minutes before You can kill
him. No one ever knew the channel
| cat TO desert fisherman. You don't
hare to carry fifteen kinds of bait with
you and then always find he wants the
sixteenth. He takes what he can get
and swallows it deep into Il mouth rs
widesprcading and affectionatc as that
| of an earnest revivalist. In rain or
sunshine, from April to November,
week days, Sundays and legal holidays,
the cat is always doing business at the
same old stand. He is an honest,
plucl,y fish, and never goes back on his
feed. and that is why we old chaps of
the cattle lands stand by the channel
| cat.''
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