The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1900-03-21
from that moment. My reel began to
l. 4

|
The fish ran up the river until all of
my line was run out. expected the
line TO snap when he ran to the end of
! 1t, and ! admit, wanted it to, for
had concluded that was going to lose
pole and reel ii the line did not break.
planted my heels deep in the earth
and braeed back to help him break
the line, but it weuld not break.
was jerked and sawed around for
lew moments, when to my surprise he
started down the river. at once be-
gan to reel in line and yell to the top
OF my voice as if in great distress, with
the hope that I could attract some OF
the boys to me. / heard one of them
answer and looking down the river l
saw George Pickles coming to nv
rescue, but just at that time my fish be-
gan TO entertain ME again. l had
thrown on the drag to my reel, after
had wound in all could, as the fish
started down stream, but it had no effect
on that fish. He seemed to split the
water like fash Of lightning and nv
reel went like an old fashion spring
wheel. l was determined to save nv
pole and reel and that fish carried me
down the bank of the river almost as
fast as l could run. In short time
Plckels came up and got down and
took hold of the rod with me. told
him that | was only trying to save my
rod and reel, that had seen the fish and
knew he could not be landed. He and
held on like grim death, and that fish
continued to run up and down stream
for over an hour. Finally he stopped
in some shallow water and seemed to
be resting for another run. We had
concluded by this time that we could
land him, and we intended to keep him
moving. l began to reel in, but he
lay as stubborn as log. 1 continued
to tighten the line. ALI of sudden he
sprang clear out of the water. You
ought to have heard Pickles grunt
when he saw what we had been irving
to hold. As he went down he seemed
to land on his tail and from eighteen to
twenty inches of him remained out of
the water. As quick as fash Pickles
drew his pistol and was taking aim at
my fish. said shoot low or you might
cut my line. He lowered his weapon
little and fired. My line whized back
IN the trees behind us, and we both
realized in a second that he had hit the
line and cut it. How we both felt can
never be described. George threw
down his pistol and looked like a con-
demned criminal. told him not to be
hurt over it that had no idea that we
could ever have landed him and that l
fully approved of his shooting. George
said: He looked so fierce at me that
L could rot resist the feeling to shoot.
aimed low and can't see how hap
pened to hit the line" Just then M
came Ed Turley, attracted by the
shot. We began to relate our exper-
fence and how George had shot my
line instead of the fish. We pointed
out as near as we could the place where
the fish was when the shot was fred.
Turley at once threw his hand above
his eyes to cut Off the sun and peered
intently to the spot where we last saw
the fish, and remarked rather excitedly
that he thought he could see blood on
the water. l determined before he
spoke what he was looking at and at
once rushed into the water nearly up
to my chin. The water grew shallow
as L approached the point where the
fish was last seen. Just as reached
the spot l could surely see blood rising
through the clear water and my hope
of getting the fish revived. Just then
there was terrible commotion in the
water and the fish rushed to the sur
face, but he was bleeding .and looked
weak. The look OF defence was not in
his eye as formerly. thought he had
rather pleading look. sprang for
ward and grasped him tightly under
/ NAg oihAo' uiiO1 duu lChclb J6lltu
with delight ss / waded back to tie
shore.
The yelling had by this time attracted
all OF our party and they all whooped
and yelled 1t was discovered that
Pickles had shot low as requested, but
in swallowing the bass the pike had
swallowed more than foot of my line,
and the bullet entering the stomach
had cut the line. The pike measured
forty-eight and half inches. To pre-
vent catching cold l imbibed rather
freely after 1 got toe amp and knew
nothing that occurred the rest of the
day.
The next morning saw the head of
my fish with its mouth held wide apar.
with stick behind the tent drying.
Pickles brought the head home with
him and it was left in his store, and
often. SO have heard, claimed that he
caught it, but he did not catch that
fish. G. II. IT