Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-10
The Kings Of the Potomac Have
Thrown Off Their Sluggishness.
Big BEAUTIES RECENTLY CAUGHT
Good Sport From Harper's Ferry
Down to Great Falls.
THE GAME OUIANANICHE


of the small mouth and wary eye; of the
broad. powerful shoulders and muscle-filled
loins; of never-failing courage and stout
heart: the gamest fish that swims when
in water to his liking, and who fights with
as much zeal and vigor the patriots did
| in the days of '76 against odds just great.
is awakening from the sluggishness that
has characterized him to a re:narka ble de-
gree this year, and is rcsuming his char
acter as the most distinguished opponent
| an angler can find in this section of the
country. Taken pound for pound the Po-
tomac bass will give more sport for weight
than any other game fish except the ouian-
aniche-the winanish-of the far northern
waters. When he is at his kingly proper
tons between two and three pounds in
weight he is unequaled ir his subtle cum
ming. his sublime strength and his imperial
courage. He is a Napoleon in strategy,
Bismarck in determination. The real angler
who strikes such fish experiences emo
tons that can never be described The
maiden listening to the lutte of her lover;
the miSer counting over his gold may feel
delightful sensations and undergo divine
spells. but the fisherman with a two and
half pound bass at the end of his line
knows an eXaltation that is supreme. To
the unnitiated the foregoing probably
sounds like balderdash. but the angler
knows that it is not overdrawn.
Early summer SIuEEishness.
Few of the bass fishermen have enjoy ed
such ecstacy this year until recently, how
ever, because the fish has been shy of his
usual haunts. Since the opening OF The
| fishing season, June l. the eddies and
RIFLES up river have been sedulously swept
| by anglers but neither live bait nor the fly
has been able TO attract them. Where
they We're seen by the keen eyes of their
pursuerS they We're lying lazily in some
quiet hole, with gills scarcely atremble and
tails merely moving, refusing to nc..ce
even the most enticing minnows dropped
just before tt.eir noses. They seemed to
be absolutely oblivious Of everything. Still,
the spawning season was over: the clean
spots of gravel that marked the nests were
all deserted, and examination of the
glasses near the shores discovered shoals
of young bass an inch or two long. But
the adults were gone. Old rivermen de-
clared that the big bass had gone into deep
water to purge their systems after en-
forced idleness of the spawning season,
aid that the chilly weather had retarded
this annual pilgrimage from returning
Wait till We have half a dozen real hot
days, they said. and then the bass would
come back in good condition. Events of
the past week have proven that so far as
the bass returning to their usual haunts
was concerned. the old fishermen were
right.
Some Recent Catches
From Harper's Ferry down to Great
Fails the deeps and shadows alike have
been very well populated with bass, and
anglers who were wise enough to fish
along the upper part of the stretch were
| fairly well rewarded.
1t needs an expert to fish with n live
minnow in shadows, but fer the ny fisher
man, or one who Uses a spoon. it is appe-
tiz!ng to find the bass frequenting them
The 3D. and 9th of July. to say nothing of
the day that came between for fear of in
| Juring the nerves of the sanity. found
big crowd of anglers up river and again
the records showed that the water, from
Harper's Ferry down to about Tuscarora
was the favored run for the bass
DIR. Walter S. Harlan. as usual started
out TO add another year to his wel-earned
lame as the best angler the Potomac
Inc hrst fish he caught last Saturday,
weighed Tour and one-half bounds. 1t
struck at a bull mlnnow and made a fine
ngnt During that day he caught several
fairly good ones and number of little fell
lows Monday morning, bright and carly
he was out again, leaving the Bile Ridge
ttod and Gun Club nearly with the sun
The very first strike he got resulted i'm The
capture of bass weighing nv. and one
quarter pounds! The rest OF that days
string was like the other-a few good cnes
and a lot OF small ones. DR.. Harlan caught
his big one in deep water.
Mr. Rudolph Kaufman also went to ;he
DUG f.idee ciuD Monday. He fishes only
with the fly. He caught thirteen or four
teen none of which was very large
MI w q. Kent, the advertising manager
OF the Palais Royal and Mr.. AL Goodman.
the well-known North Capitol street husi-
ness man. fished together Monday, start
ing at Brunswick and coming down stream
They caught twenty-siX, Mr.. Kent taking
a three-pounder and Mr.. Goodman, after
a splendid battle, landing a monarch that
pulled the scales to tie four-and-l-half-
pound notch.
I'VE had twice as many more strikes
as catches. said Mr.. Kent to The Star,
and all The fish were in the shadows
where the water was hot"
bota the big fish were caught with spoons,
the live bait carried out by the couple
having died. Mr.. Luther H. Snyder of the
firm of Hoover & Snyder fished al Har-
per's Ferry Monday and had excellent luck,
which was followed by misfortune of the
most exasperating sort. Mr.. Snyder had
enjoyed fine snort and in the water behind
his boat as ne was coming in trailed a
string of eight fine beauties. A sharp rock
caught the slender string and cut 1t as
though with knife and that was the last
of the bass.
Many ether anglers were up river and
most OF them had good support
\ Description of the Ouinanfche.
In the opening paragraphs of this article
allusion was made to the ouinaniche or
winaniSh, as the Indians call it. The Up
per Sauguenay, in the far Canadian woods
is the home of this wonderful fish. He is
a land-locked salmon. In a recent issue OF
the Chicago Times-Herald an interesting
description OF the ouinaniche appeared
The fish, it was said, was of wide habitat
and variously named.
In Maine he is known as the 'Scho odic
trout In Nova Scotia he is called the
grayling." In the land-locked lakes of
Sweden he is termed the "silfverlaX" He
is found in all the waters of Quebec, and is
particularly plentiful in the streams of the
Lake st. John system. In weight he will
run frcm four to seven pounds The rec
ord is seventeen and one-haIf pounds
taken from very deep water with a Jock
Scott fly. He is a hater of civilization.
When land on either side of his water is
plowed he vanishes. In England salmon
live and do we'll in rivers that are o.
structed by weirs and tainted with the dyes
and foul excretions of factories, but the
ouinaniche is born of wild water, and
braves the rapid. and lives a live OF peril
and hardship. and civilization, so Infinitely
the inferior Of savagery, commands him to
move on. Not for him are streams churned
by steamers and made foul by dirty nu-
manity. The light dip of the Indian paddle
and the smooth shooting of the canoes
dark shadow above his lair are as near
man as he cares to come.
He is beautiful-a perfect salmon in
Chon Ha &c bloclr h.