The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-23
GOOSE LAKE BLACK BASS.
GREAT FISH THAT ARE TAKEN ONLY
WITH SALT PORK.

Idiosyncrasy Discovered Through n Me-
Rro'a Indolence-Glorious Sport of CATCH
ing Them Tricks Played on visitors.
LEwIsvrJLE. Ark. April 1l.-If Eph Hender-
son bad not been too lazy to dig worms. or catch
minnows. or throw his hat over the tiny frogs,
the idiosyncrasy OF the black bass In Goose
Lake would never have been known. Eph
Henderson is black enough to make a spot on
the midnight sky and is too strong to work.
He lives In n cabin near the lake and Ia "A
bachelor. He is a likely-looking negro enough
and always in good humor. but he says that he
cannot see why he should hoe cotton Tor
another mans benefit when he can make a liv-
ing by doing nothing for his own. He hunts
part OF the year. fishes in q desultory fashion
the other part and between whites grows q lit
tie grain and O few vegetables on a plot OF
ground that was cleared when he rented the
place fifteen years ago. He has the African
laziness In exaggerated form. and with il much
OF the African optimism and fondness for
music. He does not fish from love of sport.
nor from a desire to sell the things he catches.
He fishes for something to eat and. when he
has got that far. he goes to sleep.
Goose Lake. ten miles long. a mile wide. and
nifty feet deep In Its centre. lies in the western
part OF the oountry In a region given up to
small farms. The woods run massively down
TO the waters edge. and In It's crystal waters
the trees are mlrTOrou 10 Jnelr Tips. moro 10 q
legend that some wild geese we're seen on IL
some years ago. and maybe in that time 1t con-
tanned wild fowl food. 1t holds nothing OF the
sort now. There is no duckweed in IL. no wild
rice. no celery. and no mast. 1t seems to have
been robbed even OF tho smaller forms OF
filmed life. IL is ten years since a man
caught a perch from Goose Lake. There
are minnows in the shallow waters along
the banks. but that is all. 1t is inhab-
tied exclusively by giant black bass. which
attain an size. These fish have
been multiplying in remarkable fashion for
long time. 1t seems certain that they live upon
one another. This conclusion Ia reached by
the deductlve method. There is nothing else
for them to eat. Even the "di-dappers." or
"hell-divers." the little brown fowls that are
plentiful on all other southern waters. have
deserted Goose Lake. 1t is given up to the
bass utterly. 1t is a beautiful piece OF water.
being nearly always calm and act amid the
green forest like a vast oblong looking-glass.
Far down in its depths tho bass are visible.
swimming to and fro, nosing their way through
the thick green water-moss at the bottom. or
darling In pursuit of a smaller brother.
The fact that Goose Lake was populous with
bass has been known in this region for fifty
years. but not the most expert fisherman could
take them on the hook. When brought to the
surface In a seine and examined they did not.
except In size, differ from other black bass Of
the plymouth variety. They we're larger. that
was all. Some Of them. in truth. were so large
and old that there was green moss upon their
backs. growing between tho scales. a parasitic
attachment that is never found upon a bass OF
less than twenty years. The fact remained,
however. that they refused to bite at anything.
They would not rise to the fly. They paid no
attention to the spoon or the phantom min
now. Some OF the local fishermen went the
length OF having lures made. fashioned like
small bass. but they would not work. Live
quick. red-sided fellows that
swim below the surface-were equally unavail-
ing. Green frogs. an inch in length. scien-
tifcally mpaled and kicking their legs abroad
eight feet under water. were no temptation.
As for earthworms hung upon the hook in a
bunch. a bait that often proves efficacious with
bass when all others have failed. the Goose
Lake monsters treated them with utter con-
tempt. They would swim to n worm laden
hook. push 1t aside with their noses. then with
a flrt Of the tail flash twenty yards away. This.
70 a man In a boat. who has spent two hours
with an Arkansas sun beating down upon tho
back OF his neck. is exasperatinR. It causes
him to say things and to long for a gun with
great carrying power under water. These
bass were peculiarly alluring. The water is
cold and II was certain that II one Of them
could ever be hooked a battle royal would follow.
They had every requisite for furnishing n de-
lightful days sport. except the one OF being
willing to be caught. First and last. a thou
sand men tried them with every device the
anglers craft could suggest. They used to
come from as far as Little Rock and beyond.
spend three days on Goose Lake. see with the
naked eye a million or two Of bass and return
home without a scale. The lake became cele-
brated as a sort Of fisherman delusion. It used
TO be fun for the men In this region to take en-
thusiastic visitors to Goose Lake. give them a
rod. line and plenty Of unexceptionable bait.
put them In a boat. show them the darting or
loahng fish. watch their eyes bulge out in
wonder and desire. then leave them alone for a
day. The face Of the man who came back to
shore was always worth riding miles to see.
Two years ago this month Epb Henderson
wanted fish. He could get them by going to
Bodcau. five miles away. catching minnows by
the simple device Of tying a worm by the mid
die and skittering it on the surface OF the
water. waiting for the minnow to swallow it
and yanking him upon the bank. Three min
nows on Bodcau mean a dozen white perch. the
most delicious fish OF Southern waters. This
trip required him first. however. to dig the
worms and he did not feel equal to the effort.
Anybody who has ever spent a languorous
April in Arkansas will understand his disin-
~clination to exertion. 1t was only a half mile
TO Goose Lake and, though the popularity Of
the bass was well known to him. he reasoned
that he might by accident find some other fish
IN 1t. He had no bait. it was true.
but he did have a piece OF dry salt
pork. upon which he had been living
for a week. This meat was OF tho kind gener-
ally furnished to negroes in the South. That
IL to say. 1t was genuine sow-belly. tough as
rubber. incrusted with a snow Of salt on it's
outside. and not any too new. 1t is sent South
because II cannot be sold anywhere else in the
world. 1t struck Eph that the easiest way In
in which he could get something with which to
play in the water and make believe he was
fishing would be to cut of a piece OF this salt
pork. He did not know but that a "turkle "
might take a liking to it. "Turkle" is not
good flesh. but it beats nothing at all. So he
cut him n hunk Of the tough fat OF the pork.
stuck 1t into the pocket Of his blue cottonade
trousers. got down his cane pole, twenty feet
in length. inspected the rusty hook at the
end OF the sixty feet OF coarse strong
lima wrannnd ahOut tha pole az III that II StiI