River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-12-05
BUFFALO FISH.
Mig Ones Found In Great Edmbers In the



Mig Ones Found In Great Eambers In the
Ohio River.
The captain of an Ohio river side-
wheel steamboat was RECALLING a circle
of enthusiastic anglers the othe- even-
ing with accounts of some of the Ohio
fish and fishing.
But the best, most honest. faithful,
all the year roun'. fair weather an
foul fellow is our buffalo ish." he
said. He never declines s1y particu-
lar kind of food just because it ain't
seasoned to suit his taste. and he is no
respecter of persons The darby pick
anniny with his cane pole, cotton cord
line, and cheap hook is every oft as
good company for him as a million
dollar tobacco planter with a split
bamboo There are three differene
species. or races. of the big river suck
ers, 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 Il. bubulus,
l. urus, and !. cypinella, and what the
deuce Il stands for 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 thea one
of thirty pounds reaches the market.
Like all Of their kind, they are bottom
feeders ana spend their lives nosing in
the mud. They eat crayfish, fresh
water shrimps. hellgamites. csddis
grubs and fresh-water CLAIMS and mus
sells. OF course. they only eat the young
of the latter, but of these they make
many a fat meal, cracking the thin
shells easily with their rubbery jaws
They do not differ much in favor from
the common river suckers of tbs east.
being muddy aud coarse and strong.
and. worst of all. full of bones. Never
theless, they are a staple article of
food IN the Chic 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
torchlight sell off the entire lots To
eager buyers. These are, of course,
nearly all seined. but they will bite n
hook, and IL is fun to catch them on q
cloudy or misty day.
ANY such weather you can see a
score OF skiffs put out from the little
town where I was raised, each with
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, MOI Why. most OF
those fishermen never even heard of
such fxings- The hook used is small
only No. 5-and the great e~it in
young fresh-water CLANS. Garden
worms will do; crayfish are better;
snails are fine; but clans arc 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 a time and then there's lively
work. They are not a game fish by
a great deal. but they put up spunky
fight for a 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 weighs
enables them often to do this on their
first dash for freedom.
They 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 q
sucking pig. Ny two little girls, Sue
and Jennie, went out one day for buff
faloes, and they brought home a 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. Ell?
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 a last puff at his smoldering corn
cob pipe. "but IL he'd come out after
buffaloes with me some hazy morning
he'd take IL back and say: There's q
dozen born every eighteen seconds"
N. Y. Times.