The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-02-07
A BULL ON A FLY ROD.
LIVELY EPISODE OF A DAYS FISHING
IN CALIFORNIA.

Inc tcd shnNl OF ono OF 'nc t'hueS III
the Party Started the Fun, and the Skill
full Angler Gave an Exhibition Not Com
mon on Trouting Trip.
Travelling overland from Santa Bar
bara to San Luis Obispo, said q tourist
recently returned from southern Cali
fornia, 'our journey as far as Los Olives
was by stage OF the beautiful land and
water scenery along the route of our
stage ride two features particularly i'm
pressed me- Ono was the backward view
from the summit of the coast noun
tains, with Santa Barbara, 12 miles
back, clustered on the left and right OF
its white Main street, the islands be-
You'd and the blIe Pacific.
1.-THE second was the river that we
forded shortly before arriving at Los
Olives. 1t was type of water course
common i'll California, with q wide, |
deep bed, perfectly dry, except where q
clear little stream rippled its way along |
q narrow channel through sand and |
gravel, winding and eddying round bars
and bowldcrs A man might leap across
it in many places, and the water did not
come nearly to the wheel hubs ms the
stage rolled through it,
"At Los Olives, which we reached at
8 o'clock p. M, ono of the dishes served
at our excellent supper was trout
caught, as we learned in the pretty
clear stream We had crossed. That deter
mined us to stay over day ut the sta.
ton to try the fishing We got out our
tackle and had a day Of great sport To
reach the water we had to get down the
steep river banks and follow the dry bed
through which the little stream seemed
to pick its way The trout we caught
were of the black spotted mountain va
riety, ranging from to IA inches in
length and averaging about three to tho
pound. Smaller ones we put back in the
water.
But there was an experience more
exciting than fishing to come before the
day was ended. At noon the ladies of
our party came by wagon to join us at
luncheon, and they accompanied us in
! the afternoons fishing Toward night
when we had worked well up toward
| the mountains, some cattle came down
to the stream to drink, and without ap-
parent provocation lively young bull
| began to paw the ground and below UNI
pleasantly and followed these demon
STATIONS up by charging upon our party.
Looking IN from my fishing at this
| iuncture, / saw that it was the red plaid
shawl of one of the ladies that had ex-
cited the animals hostility. Calling to
her to throw down the shawl and for
them all to run. | threw stones at the
bull to divert his attention, while the
other gentlemen of the party helped
them ne steep bank, where the bull
could not follow. The bull stopped at
the shawl, tossed it about in an ugly
manner, and then, turning his attention
to me, gave me sharp run across the
sands to the bank. l got there all right
carrying my rod, with the line and
leader flying behind, but just as struck
the top of the bank felt sudden jerk
of the rods tip, and turning saw that
one of my fly hooks had caught the bull
in the nostril.
1T was one of the queerest catches /
imagine that ever fisherman made,
and literally played that bull with q
fly rod for quarter of an hour. owed
him no good will, and besides / 7Santed
to save my tackle. The nostril of bull,
as you probably know, is exquisitely
J sensitive to pain, and with my strong,
flexible split bamboo rod, duplicating
reel and stout gut leader at the end of q
hundred feet of braided silk managed
to hold the big creature under control.
/ l..
got him by the nose, but he knew that
; it hurt him worse whenever he tried tc
break away, and to increase the mystery
there was all the time dangling ant
switching before his eyes big, brigh
red bass fly that had left on my leader
: as an experiment in trout fishing. II,
would strike at it with his horns, ant
his rage at finding he couldn't hit it,
and that it came back at him every time
was comical to witness-from q place O.
safety, of course.
From time to time the bull woulC
charge upon the shawl and toss tina
: about and then had to work the rec
and tip for all they were worth to say,
all my tackle from going by the board
At last, in one of these furious charges
as he lifted the shawl on his horns fel
something give away, and at the sam
moment the shawl went up into the air
The hook had torn loose from his nostril
!. and two of the hooks on the leade
were fast in the shawl. l dropped tn
rod and pulled line and shawl in, ham
over hand, like Cape Cod fisherman
hauling pollock. The bull didn tumbl
] to the situation until / had got tn
4 shawl nearly to the bank, and then h
came for it, but it was too late. Iwhil
ped the shawl up to where we wer
standing just as his head butted the pei
pendicular bank with thud tina
\ brought down shower of earth.
"The shawl carried q good deal c
sand and had some holes in it, but ther
was no disposition to complain on tn
part of its owner. We thought we ha
enough fishing for one day, and leavin
our enemy down in the river bed PAWN
sand and believing his anger we too
our wagon thankfully for the hotel. -
New York Sun.