Omaha daily bee., 1899-06-25
SOME GOOD FISH STORIES
sPearing by Torohlighi in the Sioux River,
South Dakota,
RAYS or LIGHT SEEN TO BLIND The FISH
Fishing with Clubs ON the Missouri
River Bottoms During the Flood
of 1SS1-NnEou Loads Sc
cured I'm short Time.
RAYS or LIGHT SEEN TO BLIND THE FISH

"Spearng fish by torehlght at night is
about as fine sport as a man can participate
in, remarked Henry Raymond while visit
ing In Omaha Las, week land IL is sport
that the growing generation knows little OF.
Some fifteen years ago when ! lived In
South Dakota the streams there were swarm
ing with bass pickerel. cat pike and harf d
dozen other varieties. They would take the
hook we'll but torchlight fishing at night was
the fad. ! resided at Elk Point a small town
some twenty miles north OF Sioux City and
about four miles from the Sioux river. To
fsh at night we would put our boat in the
river about six miles above the town and
float down stream until We were opposite
home. and it was a poor night that we did
not have 800 pounds OF fine fish by the time
We reached there.
"One Of the leaders in he sport was c. H.
Walworth now d resident OF Omaha. He and
three others usually made up the party The
quartet would leave town about sunset aud
reach the river just after dusk launch the
boat a few minutes later and commence
floating down the stream, gathering the big
fellows from the sandbars and pools of still
water.
"Of course to fish at night We had TO have
light, and this light was what was known
as jack Ii was big kerosene lamp,
lldCtu upon d SlduldrQ ABOUT blSDt IeSt
high, fixed in the bow Of the boat. Beside
this standard two men wauld stand, with the
other two in the stern Of the boat steering
and taking turns al spearing. AS soon as the
boat glided out from its moorings the men
in the bow would commence TO scan the bot
tom ahead, which TO a depth of two feet
could be plainly seen under the rays of light
for distance Of ten or fifteen feet ahead.
The boat not making any noise would slip
up onto the fish and frequently would
strike a school of 100 or more fine ones. In
such cases we would frequently secure half
a dozen before they got out of reach OF the
spears.
''lt always seemed to me that the rays OF
light blinded the fish, as ordinarily you
could run the boat right over them before
they commenced TO move away.
This spearing would continue over
course Of several miles Of river and usually
consumed about all OF the time until the
following morning. or course it had its OBJ
jectionable features, as well as its pleasant
ones. for many time the fishermen went
home drenched TO the skin, either from rain
or from falling overheard.
Speaking OF falling out of the boat re
minds me OF one night when l saw Wal
worth get pretty wetting as it was pos
sible for man TO get. We had started
from our usual mooring and were going
along in fine shape, having succeeded in
spearing couple OF hundred pounds OF fish
without having covered more than half Of
the distance. 1t was Walworths turn TO
stand in the bow of the boat and handle the
spear He had been there for perhaps fif-
teen minutes and had made several good
catches, when all OF sudden he commenced
TO perform some antics that induced us TO
ha nod doFr JIa IN
in the bow Of the boat, whirled his spear
couple OF times in the air, let out a yell
that would have caused Sioux Indian TO
turn green with envy and then hurled the
weapon out into space. A moment later he
grabbed the spear from the man who was
standing beside him and, with this held
aloft jumped overheard into about three
feet OF water He speared al everything in
sight as he went. but he speared once too
many times, for in swinging the lance TO
get the correct poise. he struck the lamp,
knocked it off the standard and into the
water 1t went, leaving the crew in total
darkness.
I'VE got Walworth back into the boat,
but he failed TO get his fish, which he in
sisted weighed 100 pounds. The worst thing
OF the whole business that night was that
soon after losing our lamp a violent thun-
der storm came up and before we got down
to the place where our wagon had been
driven we were all as wet as a lot of
drowned rats. The boat we got home, but