The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-05-25

Thursday night Sheriff Plummer, Mar
shall Tricky, Deputy Sheriff Dresser,
Register of Deeds G.. Fred. Murch, Over
seer of the Poor Frank Lowell and Mr..
Jas. A. Martin, the undertaken, were in
Scarboro together on a fishing trip.
They did not go to Scarboro to tramp
along and scramble up some little stream
and angle for six inch trout, neither
did they troll for the notified pickerel
1t was in the evening, remember, and
they were armed with enormous nets
wherewith to capture the big and beauti-
full and glittering shad. 1t is peculiar
and very fascinating kind of fishing. In
stead of light and timber pole you are
provided with a very large net, the circu-
lar rim of which is about the size of the
big wheel of one of the old style bicycles
The net part is four or five feet deep
There is pole attached to the rim, as big
round as your arm and fifteen feet long
This fishing rig is decidedly heavy
and it is handled by the help of a. post
driven into the bank, close to the river
edge Several pins project from the side
of the post and over either one of these,
as is most suitable, the pole of the net is
rested, while the rim of the net sets up
right in the shallow river.
When shad, coming up the river to
spawn, runs into this big net, you can
feel it at the end of the pole. Then the
fun begins. You must turn the end of
the pole and pull down on it very quickly,
SO as to turn the net upright and lift it
out of water, before the agile shad can
dart out of it. 1t is pretty lively work
for an instant and if successful, it is in
deed worth while to pull in your net with
the big shining fish Topping about in it.
They weigh from two to seven pounds.
The above party went to the house of
Eben Libby, in Scarboro on the shores of
the Nonesuch river. They welded their
nets and in all caught ten of the fish
Marshal Trickey worked away at the end
OF that big pole, yanking it down and
twisting it around with tremendous
energy, whenever he felt or thought that
he felt fish in the net But it was like
working the handle of one of those old
pumps No water gladdens the frantic
pumper. No beautiful shad greeted the
laboring Marshal Yet at least one fish
came up in the nets of all the rest of
them.
This is what all the rest of them say.
They further declare and affirm that a
certain colley dog, belonging to Mr..
Libby, and being of very intelligent and
benevolent disposition, and noticing the
Marshal's chagrin, did then and there
plunge into the river and bring out a
fine shad and lay it at the Marshal's feet
On the other hand Marshal Tricky
takes exceptions to the above statements
He declares, so we understand, that the
reason for the uselessness of his pump
handle labors was the fact that the pump
leaked; that is, there was a hole in the
net through which the fish invariably es-
capped.
He was very acute in discovering this
fact, and in remedying the difficulty, for,
throwing aside the useless net, he whistled
to the dog and urged him with such skill
as to convert him into as useful fishing
net as any of the others possessed.
Such are the conflicting stories of these
shad fishermen. But the dog did catch
a fish That is the unvarnished fact. He
is wonderfully quick and agile. He can
see the movement of the fish in the shoal
water and dashes at the fish's wake like
a flash.
The first fish caught was driven into
Deputy Sheriff Dresser's net by this dog,
the fish lodging the dog, only to get
caught in the net