St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-08-06
HAULING IN A BASS.
A Task That Delights the Heart Of
the True Fisherman.
riseat0rial ExcaFsI0ns Are Quite Pop
ular In Washington Just how
Senators who Are Fond Of
Trolling and Casting.
Especial washington Letter.l

Especial Washington Letter.1
Primitive man hunts ond fishes for .
livelihood. Civilized man hunts for
game and angles for fishes. for recrea-
tion. In modern parlance. this is is
called sport"
Staid and prim people who do not
hunt or fish say that it is wicked and
repreLensible to use rod and gun in thi,
manner; but they eat prairie chicken
'rheasants. qIails and all sorts of fish
and are glad of the opportunity to do so
Ducks and geese abound in this vi.
cinity on Chesapeake bay and its trib
utaries, in season. But at this time
of the year our people on their outings
are devoting their leisure and pleasure
to the finny fellows beneath the waves
Our fishermen are doing business with
bass and other witches Of the water;
and readers who love such recreation,
or sport. WHY probably be interested
in a description Of the aquatic pleas
ure.
Senator Davis, of Minnesota, has often
said: Il so a-fishing onlX when can
have things my own way. must have
. quiet day. must have smooth water,
] must have a safe boat. i want an old
fashioned pipe. There must be good
bait, and plenty of it. There must be
good boatman at the helm. And,
above all things else, the boatman must
be a foreigner who can't talk English
or who is absolutely dumb. A boat
man who can talk, and tells fish stories
is IN abomination."
Every body who has fished for pleas
ure, and also for fish, will understand
that the senator has bottled up several
tons of wisdom in those three senten-
tious sentences.
The bass, the glorious Potomac bass
he of the small mouth and wary eye
of the broad, powerful shoulders and
musclc-filled loins, Of never-failing
courage and stout heart. the games,
fish that swims, when in water to his
liking. and who fights with as much
real and vigor as the patriots did in
the days of '76 against odds just a.
great. is awakened from the sluggish.
ness that has characterized him to Z
remarkable degree this year. and il
resuming his character as the most dis
tinguished opponent an angler can fine
In this section of the country. Taker
pound for pound, the Potomac bass viii
give more sport for weight than any
other game fish except the ouiananich,
the winanish Of the far northern wa
tiers. When he is at his kingly pro
portions, between two and three pound!
in weight, he is unequaled in his sub
tie cunning. HesA-Napaleop in strat
fvgy, BfsmSfeK N n6etsfminaff6n. 8|
real angler who strikes such q 6sh ex
described. The maiden listening t
the lutte Of her lover. the miser count
ing his gold. may feel delightful sensa
tions. and undergo divine spells; but
the fisherman with a2K-pound bass Al
the end Of his line knows an exaltatior
that IS supreme. To the uninitiated th,
foregoing probably sounds like bal
derdash, but the angler knows that il
ik not overdrawn.
Few of the bass fishermen have en-
ioyed such ecstasy this year until re
Gently. however, because the fish ba.
been shy of his usual haunts. Old riv
ermen declare that the big bass bat
gone into deep water, to purge theil
system after enforced idleness OF th,
spawning season, and that the chilly
water had retarded their return from
their annual pilgrimage. "Wait til
We have half a dozen real hot days,