The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-25
A TRIP 70 SUCKER LAKE
Expedition From s~wartswood
Lake That Will Repay
the Exeursionist.

wood lake We're temporarily ZOE SthelT
feed" so we looked for new lakes to conf
quer. The afternoon before we rode out
to the kip and in a short time caught
thirty or forty niinnows, which we put
into milk can until we should be ready TO
serve them up to the hungry bass On
our bait supply there hangs a tale that
developed the next morning. writes A. ".
T.. in the Newark Sunday Call"
My alarm clock was set for 3:45 O'Clock.
1t did its duty. and / was soon dressed
and off to wake John. When lunch and
tackle were packed away in the wagon
we sought the bait. The helgramites-to
use an Irish bull-were found gone. They
had decanaped from their cans, using a
carelessly placed weed as a ladder, and
were lost in the jungles of Johns cellar.
I went to report to John and found him
tearing his hair and using language over
The minnows. We had placed the can con-
tanning them in the brook, securing the
mouth with mosquito netting. My colD
panion found the netting secure, but fas-
tened by az strange .knot-the bait had
dwindled to half dozen. Here we We're
at $50 A. M, ready for our fishing trip
but no bait. AS well have d bicycle with
out Wheels There was but, one thing to
be done. We took half a hundred bait
from the bait pond of Mine Host Sanford
| Rosencrans-we afterwards paid for them
and started off with the prayer that
this might be the day when minncws
were the bill of fare in demand among
the autocrats of Sueke pond.
/ would like to make our ride a glowing
" picturesque one, with visions Of sing
ing birds, brilliant sunrise, fields gleam-
ing in the dew and other poetical es-
s~entials of a gradually awakening ccun-
try life, but 1 can do nothing of the sort.
For even in a fish story truth is mighty
and will prevail-occasionally. IN the
contrary, it was a disagreeable morning;
there was a chilly drizzle with occasional
gusts of wind, the road was rough and up
hill, the wagon seat developed a habit
of suddenly doopping at ore end, and the
bait can made desperate efforts TO leave
us, via the back of the wagon. Combine
these ~unfavorable conditions with the de-
preston resulting from lack of the usual
breakfast-we lunched on the Lakeland
the struggle for bait and you have the
material for a first-class pessimist. This
feeling was responsible for my explana-
ton of the name of our destination when
John gave it UP. l suggested that it was
named after the suckers from Swarts-
wood who took the six mile ride over the
mountains for the rather uncertain pleas
ures of bass fishing.
But we arrived there within two hours,
secured the boat and the advice about the
best fishing grounds from a man who
reckoned that he didn't know much about
bass cause he never ketched none"
and then we trusted to fortune. The con-
ditions We're favorable; the sky was over
cast. there was a strong wind, and it
was early morning. John said that the
wind was from the wrong quarter. that
bass never bite when the wind is from
the west. l was more concerned about
the bait. What if the bass wanted frogs
or helgramites instead of minnows? We
anchored in eighteen inches of water,
over a rocky bottom. Our lines were
soon out, John with his two natural
bamboo poles while l used two steel rods,
a ~l0-eunce and a ounce. We had lutte
time to wait. In less than a minute
Jchn had "horsed' a bass into The boat
and I was playing another with my deli
cate tackle. They were rather small,
about a pound and a quarter, but they
were s1nall-mouths and gamey to the
backbone. Unlike the Swartswood bass,
which are great jumpers, the fish swan
deep and hard. Within half an hour we
lande seven fish, all fighters. Then in
trying to reach a new fishing ground,
near by, we drifted into a succession Of
holes, too deep. for our anchor to sound.
Valuable time was spent in getting settled
again, and then the fish would not bite.
Here John had time to finish the story,
which had been interrupted by The first
onslaught of bass. 1t was about an ugly
looking game rooster for which he mad
traded a box of cigars This bird was
enade Of the celery rows. John liked
celery, but admired the rooster. and dis
liked to hurt his feelings by DRIVING. him
a aaiae john efa s sTisginny was asns Work mor N fne
kitchen when she heard "a dod-blaSted
racket in the parlor. AT fust she was
afeared that It was that spooky crltter
hats been scarin' the Swartswood folk
a-nights. After a while she peeked in
and burned if there wasn't Beauty-that's
the rooster-a sparrin' away with nisself
glass in drivin, -" Lantic Ocean, yelled
John, as he gave a strong pull q his
pole, Which promptly assumed the an
big to be waltzed straight into the boat.
IT dove for the anchor rope tried 10 get
under the boat, and then unwillingly APP
preached the net. If this We're moi a true
tale that fish would have been landed and
registered at six and a quarter pounds.
But candor con1pels me to state tha the
first glance at the yawning jaws of the
landing net inspired him with such vigor
that with a flap of his tail and a shake
of his jaw the bass unlocked himself and
John and I looked at each other and re-
named silent.
During the morning we caught four
teen bass and then went ashore for a cup
Of coffee at Mr.. Ogden's farm house.
Mrs. Ogden, a pleasant faced woman,
who speaks with a soft Southern accent.
insisted on serving us with a warm meal.
This, with a chat with Mr.. Ogden, in
yigorated US for the afternoon bout with
the bronze-back warriors. The sun
came out just before we reached the lake.
and the wind went down at the same
time. We caught only five bass. But |
learned more fully the truth of the say
ing, '"The fish is not all in the fishing
The soft balmy. air, the comfort of resting
after a good dinner, the beautiful scenery
that encircles this mountain lake. and
the hornely gossip and humorous stories
from John made me almost forget that
the fish were not hungry.
AT five O'Clock we started for home
witt a string of nineteen bass. ranging
in weight from one to two pounds.
don't know what my companion did after
supper. i went to bed and slept the
sleep of the successful angler.
RTG RPpWERy TIP IA nrM