The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1895-01-24
THE TEXAS CATFISH.
One OF the Greatest Fighters of
the Inland Waters.
A Eish That Il Always Ready for Bite
and Ono That Puts the Most
Seasoned Sportsman cn
His Mettle.

"Oh, go way, 60 way" sighed an old
Texan ranchman on sound steam
boat the other night, waving knot Of
enthusiastic anglers away with both
hands Don't talk to me about skit-
tering for muskellunge, trolling for
black bass, and casting for trout and
salmon. and every other Texan that
knows a good thing when he sees It can
tell you of a 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 dark corner just abaft
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
the wilderness. The enthusiasm with
which he dwelt upon the capture Of a
seven-pounder, its cat-like rush and
leap for the fly, the strike and the
fierce fight for freedom, and the gaffing
by the Indian at the end had stirred the
old-time sporting blood Of the grizzled
cattle king.
"What fish is thnt?' asked New
York Sun man, who is a salmon crank,
with skeptical knock of his pipe
against the camp stool.
1.-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
no misunderstanding I 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 a
good-sized boy into the branch and
half-Grown him without trouble. All
the streams and creeks that lie to the
southwest of the Red river in our state
contain this game fighter, and those
who have caught both fish regard it as
far superior in courage, quickness and
strength to 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 cat has fins nearly
white, sides pale blue and a tail very
gracefully forked. In shape it is moro
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 croals when
taken from the water as If in hearty
protest against its capture. The flesh
is firm, flaky and of a beautiful salmon
tint. 1t never weighs over six pounds
One Of the prettiest ways to charm a
channel cat is on q 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 a sunken stump
you send your whirling toy, and reel
ing slowly in you will entice any chan
mel fish that may be near. One uses a
long, slender rod and light silk line,
for the tackle must be delicate and
strong. Once cat is struck he be-
comes veritable 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
at breakneck pace that makes the
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 danger
GUS fish in clear, swift water, among
rocks and tree stumps he is a very
devil. A 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
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 mouth as
widespreading and affectionate as that
of an earnest revivalist. In rain OF
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
plucky fish, and never goes back on his
feed, and that is why we old chaps Of
the cattle lands stand by the channel
cat"
1