Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-03-21
BEWARE OF THE FROG.
II You Let Him Sit by and Croak, You
Will Get No Fish.

eff you are ever fishing" said an
ob&orvant New York sportsman,
"and sec hulllrog sitting near by,
on rock or n log or bog or any,
thing, you might rs well wind up
your line and go away unless you
kill the frog or drive him away, for
you won t catch fish. / found that
out all by myself few seasons ago.
I was fishing up in Sullivan COURT
for black bass. used live bait, for
I couldn't get a fish with n fly or q
troll. Sometimes I had first ratio
luck, and every day I didn't have
any luck at all, finally noticed,
was when a frog was sitting some.
where near by, every now and then
giving a croak or two l couldn't
see any reason why that should af-
tect the fish so they wouldn't bite,
though, and thought little Of it.
Zone day I went out to catch
some young sunfish and young
perch, as ] found that they wero
killing bait for lass. Icaught these
fry near the shore Ct the lake, usu-
ally with a tiny Iarbless hook bait.
ed with bit of angleworm, at Ger.
tain places alongshoro. had never
had any difficulty in catching pier.
ty of them in short time. On this
particular day as l threw my hook
in tho water saw big frog sitting
on a stone at the edge of the lake,
not more than ten feet from where
I stood. Presently II fine perch for
bait came toward my hook. Tho
water was clear and only a couple of
feet deep, and I could see tho fish
plainly. just before this perch got
to tho hook the frog gave peculiar
croak, loud and deep The perch
turned and disappeared.
By and by young sunfish camo
edging its way to the bait and was
on the point of grabbing itwhen tho
frog croaked again. The sunfish
stopped, backed away and disappear
cd in deep water. This went on for
ten minutes-fish coming up to tako
my hook, the frog oroaking and
the fish going away again. Then it
struck me that the frogs croaking
had given warning to the fish.
"'That blamed frog is telling those
perch and sunfsh to look out, sure
as cells, said I.
II gra bbed up a club and sent it
flying at the frog. Itstruok him and
killed him. Then ] went to fishing
again. In less than quarter of an
hour I had caught every perch and
sunfish in sight. On the samo day I
got corroborative proof that frogs
spy on the fisherman and warn the
fish against him. took some of the
bait fish I had caught and went out
after bass. I was having immense
luck. In less than an hour had
hooked and landed 20 hig fellows
and was feeling fine Suddenly I
heard frog strike up, off to my
left, with tremendous below. I
looked around. There sat big green
chap on an old stump When I look
ed at him, he turned one of his cog.
gle eyes up at me, and I give you
my word he winked it at me, as
much as to say:
"'I'm on to your
II thought I'd fish awhile longer
before I tested tho frog spying the
DRY. Five minutes passed; then the
frog let loose again. Hooked around.
He gave me another wink. I fished
on for half an hour, during which
tho frog croaked ten times, and ]
got not SO much as nibble.
"'This settles it!' said.
II chucked a stone at the frog. It
missed him, but he skedaddled of
the stump and disappeared in the
lake. tished again. In less than a
minute I hooked three pound bass
and landed him. Within quarter
of an hour I had caught five. Then
tho frog croaked again. ! looked
around. There he was on the stump.
and he glared at me in a way that
showed he knew I had discovered
his game. As long as let him stay
there and croak didn't catch a fish
or get n bite. Then ! whipped out
my revolver and shot him. Fifteen
n,ini1taS after that I had five mora