The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-07-15
SILVER CLEAN OF
SPECKLED TROUT
Caught at Warm Springs Thirteen
Inches Long.
A BROOK WITHOUT REPUTATION
10 Find the Po,k-Dot Fish-A Long
List of Distinguished Guests
at the Eayuritc Resort.

OLD SWEET SPRINGS, w. VA, July
, 14.-Special-In the warm days of spflhs'
when they begin to sit out the front
galleries O. evenings in the city. now ana
then you hear men talking there OF last
summers outing-sometimes down on 'he
; beach, maybe up in Canada, but hkehest
off at some Virginia resort or retreat;
and, as far as the men are concerned,
the place that has a fish-story connected
with it is always the one of greatest
Interest. And if the story relates q
personal experience real, downright,
actual, last Julys catch-why, races
brighten and expectancy plans; ana as
the party separates for the night you can
hear remarks like this: well, | think
I'll try that place this summer. John;
tell you. the spin of a reel certainly
, lightens a body's mind of his business,
and makes him forget the close, hot city
And Here, dear won't yoC please pull
! out that bundle of tackle from the BACK
of your closet, and lets see what ii looks
like" and Goodnight, old fellOw-I say,
are you sure there's just fair chance of
my getting one or Two Of those wild noun
tain trout on to my hook up al that place?
! Bass are fine. but it isn't every stream.
you know that has a trout in it-he,s
! The rarest fish that swims. You know
never even saw a real 'speckled beauty
much less caught one: they must be rare,
although people talk OF them so much
y BIT OF y PICTURE.
Well, it isn't every Virginia mountain
stream that can truly boast of this game
ster of the brook, and the silver CLEAN
of a trout in the pool OF the rifles IS
enough to start a sportsman's heart into
q feverous pulse that can be sttlled only
by the founce of the spotted treasure
safe on the grass beside the water.
Perhaps the unpretentious brook that
runs within three hundred yards OF the
Old Sweet Springs hasn't any great repu-
tation as trout haunt. 1t looks inno-
cent enough as it steals through the
meadow grass, beneath the willows and
oaks at the foot Of the HILL and between
the corn and the wheat d little further
down. Walk UP and down Tit slips past
the crosses in silence. in spreads in cool
ripples over the pebbles, it spatters down
a half-tumb!e into a pool. and seems to
wish to rest a bit in the shade of the
green above i, then it widens as it gathers
the bright tribute of wayside springs, and
one begins TO look for a log on which TO
cross, and at last. with a Swash down
some mimic rapids it is lost in the green
and gold of prosperous fields between the
closing hills. But you haven't seen a fish
in all the walk-you have scarcely thought
of fish. Some black birds screamed as
they took flight from the grass. a pair
OF Bobwhtes left off their drinking and
walked, fussily clucking, I'D the hill; a
snake slipped into the crosses there. and
little school of minnows-wee. tiny min
nows-huddled up by the bank a little
farther down. But fisI-no sign of fish
from meadow to corn
NOBODY BUT DOC.
The supper-ben has rung-it is o'clock.
The sun is down behind the hill, the
!
climbing the western end of the Grand
Hotel. A man strikes off across the
little valley toward the foot of the hill:
! he has on SLOUGH hat, and in his hand
is a rod-pray what for? 1t is
half-past s. a group of men are sitting
on the west porch of the hotel. talking
summer talk Patterson says, rs Doc
back from the brooke What should
Doc be doing at the brook in the dark
with ROD and reel? There he is now,
And he's got emf says Craig: nobody
can ketch EN- but Doc-that's the odd
part of it; 1 can't. Amt them pair OF
beauts!'' And them were a pair of
silver sided, red polka dotted. big
mouthed. Kicking 13-inch mountain
trout.
One of us had never seen the real thing
before, and that pair of fish set in that
ones brain dream OF a nearby brook,
haunted by two patient feet. a swishing
q
speckled beauty, curved and wild-eyed, as
he seapaT on the meadow grass. Yet,
! nobody can ketch 'em but Doc NV!
AN ELASTIC FISH YARN.
Alexander Agelasto. OF Norfolk, came
the next day from fishing IN Canada On
the porch he heard of the two trout of
the day before, and that the trout were
sacred for Doc-indeed there stood Doc
with another beauty in his hand. Age
lasto missed his supper next evening and
near onto 5 O'Clock he came In with one
of Docs "sacreds." 1t was only a half
FOUNDER. but the spell was broken and
the following day he brought in another
And yesterday at shutdown he went across
the meadow again with a rod and bottle
of grasshoppers. Before nine he was back
with -. First, it may be as well for
you to know that two summers ago this
same Doc caught out of this same brook a
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. inch fish OF
this same species, and that there are
people here now that helped to eat that
same fish.
To resume. before nine Agelasto was
back with two trout-one about twelve
or thirteen inches long. The size OF that
one. however. does not matter; but the
second one Would you like TO know
what the second trout would have sold
for in a New York market yesterday?
Eleven dollars! That's just its eating
value, to say nothing OF the fact that
you had caught him, or of the sport OF
landing him. Indeed. some one asked
Aselasto how he landed him. Agelasto
replied: Il just don't know a thing
about it: I was so excited at the pull OF
him.. But, how much did he weigh? We
didn't weigh him, so we can't be accurate
about that His length. however, was Z,
fair seventeen and a half inches--fron
tooth to tail a shimmering. specified, 1.-the
piece of pink glory,
When Doc brought in his first catch he