St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1898-04-23
FISHING FoR sMELTs.

FISHING FoR sMELTs.
Queer Little Colonies of Movable
Huts Along the Maine Coast.
The different enactments for the pro-
lection of salmon In Maine waters
would fill half a page In the Sun, while
all the laws regulating the taking of
smelts could be printed in half coll
umn. Though salmon are protected
and petted from the time they are in
the egg until they are caught or die
of old age, the total value Of the salmon
taken in Maine last year did not exceed
$4,000, and half of these were sold to-
the United States fish hatchery at Orr;
land. During the same time that the
aristocratic fishermen were angling for.
salmon with fishing tackle that was
costly and wonderful to look at, the.
ragged and begrimed girls who fshed
with cotton lines and cheap hooks
caught smelts enough to yield more
than 5000 In cash, and had whole
lot left over for home consumption.
In the winter, when business is dull
and no farming operations can be car
ried on, the entire population of the sea-
board towns goes out on the Ice and
fishes for sme1ts, using hand lines and
hanks that are baited with live min
nows that are dipped from deep holes
in the inland brooks. Every fisherman
has four by six wooden house upon
runners, in which he sits perchad upon
a shingle block by the side OF hot
sheet-iron stove. Having cut hole in
the ice as long as his house Is wide, he
slides his dwelling over the hole, takes
up a floor board, and is ready for bust
ness. He sits there smoking and wish
ing for smelts from sunrise until near-
" midnight. Some days he makes good
wages, getting as many as 20 pounds
of smelts, which, at II cents pound,
yields enough money to support his
family in comfort. Again, in blowy
weather, when the smelts strike or
shore to avoid being ground to pumice
on the rocks, he may fish for week and
not average over six pounds day.
Whether he gets much or little he keeps
on fishing, knowing that he can lind
nothing else to do, and preferring small
wages to no wages at all.
The brackish streams and salt water
lnlets all along the coast, from Castine
to Eastport, are nc. dotted with these
little fishing houses that can be moved
from place to place by hand. Some
times five or six members of the same
family will group their houses and cook
their food before an open fire on the
ice. A fisher boy who has sweetheart
engaged in the same calling generally
places his house near hers, so they
may exchange glanees and words of en-
dearment between bites. Old women
bring down half finished stockings and
sit and knit, counting stitches and max
ing seams and also watching the upper
ends of the dangling lines for signs OF
life below. Pensioners whose trembling
hands have to be guided when signing
their vouchers meet comrades from
other towns, and while fishing for
smelts fight over the battles that were
lost and won more than so years ago.
When all other topics of conversation
fail, the price paid for smelts in the
Boston and New York markets comes
up for discussion, and daily papers
from the big cities are passed from
hand to hand until the page which Is
devoted TO market reports is worn out.
The general impression is that the
commission merchants who handle
smelts are getting rich faster than
Klondike miners. Another deep-rooted
conviction which prevails everywhere
along the coast Is that the crooked and
| malformed smelts which are sent to
the states from New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia are unfit to eat It IS ar
gued that If the imported smelts were
as good as those caught in Maine the
fishermen would take more pains with
| them. and would straighten them Out
in shape to put in the trying pan before
| they were allowed to freeze. AS foI
crooked smelts that are shipped IN
bulk and pitched out of the hold of .
vessel with fork, the fishermen want
none Of them.
A The older fishermen when talking Of
years gone BY do not give dates and
/ pay no heed 10 the almanac. One season
is spoken Of as the winter when smelts
were big and skurce,' another is the
winter when two lines caught 81
pounds day for six weeks" and the
most memorable event of all was ths
winter when smelts brought 80 cents
o pound" The 1astenamed winter
brought prosperity to a1l the coast
towns. Scores of couples who had beer
/ planning and saving for years got mar
7. ried that winter, and houses that had
not known paint for a decade came oui
in fresh coats of glaring white. AS
result of that season of great pros
!. perity the ice is now covered with fa'
and romping boys and girls, &whoss
parents found marriage possible be
A cause smelts were 80 cents q pound
N. Y. Sun.
This Dog Carried q Watch.
A story is told by Mr.. George w. Grit
I'm, of Henderson county. Of shep
herd dog owned by him, which certain
" demonstrates the superior instinc
Of this little woolly creature over mos
species Of the canine family. sOne day.
Ia. ,f,.<