The morning news., 1897-08-30
Az ENGLISH FISHING YARN.
How an Anglers Last Bait Made an
Unexpected Catch on Dry Land.

Unexpected Catch on Dry Land.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.
There are many and diverse opinions as
to which is the best bait to use in spinning
for pike. Some prefer the natural dead
bait, and others use artificial spinners.
always used the natural dead bait till
last season, but. owing to a little incident
which happened to me then, I now more
often use an artificial spinner. Not that
what happened was not very exciting and
very interesting but ! have great af-
lection for my rod and as tackle costs
money l think il best not to run risks.
The pike were feeding freely, and l had
caught several During the early part of
the day. l had had very bad luck and had
lost all the natural bait ! had with me,
except one. This one / attached to my
spinning tackle, and went on fishing.
Somehow the fish seemed to leave off
feeding just then, for l fished for nearly
half an hour without getting run.
l was casting up along g. bank just
where some reeds grew at the edge, and in
one ambitious cast, in which l tried to get
( too near TO the reeds,l I managed to get
the bait among them. and could not get
it free. l laid my rod on the grass ana
/ began TO fill my pipe before going to get
my bait out While | was lighting my
movement on the part Of my rod. 1 was
using a Nottingham reel and had forgot
ten TO put the check on 1t. 1t had run
round and the line was in a bad tangle
But the rod now began to move off on its
own account. ] looked to see what it was
and saw cat creeping away up the bank.
! seized the rod. The effect was marvel
ous-ou the cat. 1t had taken my last bait
and when I took hold of my rcd l evident
ly suddenly put an extra pressure on the
line, and sent several hooks into the
wretched animal. 1t gave vent TO a gAast-
ly screech. got all it's legs spread out on
the ground in different directions, claw
ing the earth, and shook its head and
whole body violently, swearing-no other
expression describes so well what it did
as hard as il coud at the same time. This
state of things did not last many seconds,
Tor the cat. maddened by pain and terror.
began dancing round in a perfectly mad
way ] couldn't give il any line as my
reel had overrun at the beginning, and
the line was in a large mass of knots,
which grew tighter at every pun from the
cat
AS / got more excited the struggles of
the cat got wilder. Ii looked at one mo-
ment like a glorihed starfish. and at an
other ike a ball with pnckles all over IL.
IL used worse language than l have ever
heard from a cat before ~. since, and at
| last began to work away toward a fence
at the other side OF the field, which bor-
dered the river. / had TO follow il. hoping
every moment that il would break loose.
IL went under the fence and straight on
over the next field. When l got to the
fence. l felt that the end had come.
couldn't get under the bottom rail. as it
was too near the ground, and as my line
went under It was impossible for me TO
get over and follow the cat. so
stopped The animals struggles got more
violent now than ever. II rushed from side
90 side, one moment leaving a lot of slack
and al another with a bound forward,
ughteAing II up with a jerk, had on a
wire trace which did not seem inclined to
break. and just as / was wondering II.
when the eat got tired a Bit, l should be
able TO work it down 10 the water. and
get it len and drown il, my line parted
with snap, and ! was free. had lost
my last bait, my trace and spanning tackle
and so went home tired ana disguised