The Wichita daily eagle., 1895-03-26
HE LOVES A SCRAP
One Of the Greatest Fighters OF
the Inland Waters.
a Fish That Is Always Ready Tor Bits
and One That Puts the Mott
Seasoned Sportsman on
His Mettle.

''Oh. go way, go way" sighed an OLD
Texan ranchman on a sound steam
boat the other night, waving a Knot OF
enthusiastic anglers away with ooth
hands Don't talk to me about sklt-
terinr for muskellunge, trolling for
black bass. and casting for trout and
salmon. and every other Texan that
knows good thing when he sees 1T can
tell Won of fish that can out-jump and
out-measure and Outright any SWIM
ming creature you can trot out.
He was one of the cluster of men
gathered in a dark corner just abatt
the wheelhouse on the upper deck, and
the after-dinner chat had wandered
around to fun with rod and line A
Young fellow had just been recalling
some famous days on the Rangeleys IN
Maine in times before summer hotels
and railways and guides had destroyed
1he wilderness. The enthusiasm with
which he dwelt upon the capture OF
seyen-pounder, its cat-like rush and
lean for the fly, the strike and the
fierce firht for freedom, and the gaining
hv the Indian at the end had stirred the
old-tirne sporting blood of the grizzled
cattle king.
What fish is that?' asked a New
York Sun man, who is salmon crank,
with a skeptical 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
TO misunderstanding ] want to say
right at the beginning that this Texas
chap is no relation Of 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 Texan cat could yank
good-sized boy into the branch and
half-drown hun without trouble. All
the streams and creeks that lie 10 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, qulckness and
strength 70 the black bass. Certainly
its flesh is far more toOthsOme.
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 eat has fms nearly
white. sides pale blue and tail very
gracefully forlled. In shape 1t Is more
slender and delicate than the ordinary
fish and it is dotted with black all
along the body in several lines 1t ut
ters loud and startling croak when
taken from the water as il in hearty
protest against its capture. The flesh
Is firm flal<y and of beautiful salmon
tint It never weighs over six pounds.
One OF the prettiest ways to charm a
channel cat 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 rock
or wrinkles around sunllen stump
you send your whirling toy, and reel
ing slowly in you viii entice any chan
mel fish that NAV be near. One uses
long. slender rod and light silk line,
for the tackle must be delicate and
strong. Once cat is struck he be-
comes veritabie 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
ct breakneck pace that makes the
reel scream to follow, and if there he
anv snags and 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 danger
Gus fish in clear, swift water, among
rocks and tree stumps he is very
devil. \ big one viii fight for fifteen
or twenty minutes before you can kill
him. No one ever knew the channel
cat to desert a fisherman. Gou don't
have 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 a month as
wideSpreading and aifectionate as that
of an earnest revivalist. IN rain or
sunshine. from April to November,
week DAYS. Sundays and legal holidays,
the eat i always doing business at the
same old stand. lie is an honest,
r}ucly fish, and never goes back on his
feed. and that is why we old chaps of
the cattle lands stand by the channel
cat"