The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-07-15
FISH TALES, IF NO FISH.
FERGY THE GUIDE TALKS WHILE II
BASS DECLINE 70 BITE.

BNSS ~ bisE'
Catch Of the Red Flannel shirt -Punishment
Of Aleck Hume. the Mean scotchman
Target Shooting Of the Porcupines-Ih
Death Song Of the L~oon-fOrest Romance.
FiFIE1p. Wis, July i2.-Ferguson the guide.
called Fergy for short, squat, muscular and
brown, with small dark eyes peering from
under a dropping brini. sat on the middle
thwart of the boat In the summer sun Round
Lake lay placid. Not a ripple crinlled 1t. The
great pines and hemlooks which grew to the
waters edge were motionless In the noon heat,
Over the wide and mirrorlike expanse the
quavering. wailing cry OF a loon sounded, A
! blue heron stood gaunt upon a wooded point,
waiting for his luncheon to swim by, and at
one end OF the lake a mother teal led her
brown brood Of seven by devious ways in and
out among the PUSHES. While usually the
water rippled. az II against a beach. upon the
lips of the lly-pads. on this day not a murmur
came from them. Under their shelter the
huge black bass reposed nor might any form
Of lure, live frog or minnow. phi anton minnow
or spoon, fly or white salt pork. tempt them
10 come forth.
The other man in the boat listened while
Fergy talked. He pays Fersy o. q day TO
ohi mil hooht tAAto ~ bh.>N
Ash are known 10 be and TO handle the craft
as only a master can handle it when that
shooting wolf Of the western waters. the mus
k~allonge, strikes the spoon and the battle for
life begins. In addition to services as a guide
he obtained from Fergy a wealth of romance
Of the forest and field. for this boatman is GER
tainly the most gifted and ornate liar to be
found between Green Bay and the Mississippi
River. When pike. ~pickerel, bass and "musky'
refuse to strike. It is worth the money TO hear
him In unmodulated voice drone on OF the way
in which they have bitten In the past and
doubtless will bite again. His angua Is
simple and direct. unadorned with the Graces
OF rhetoric. unmarried by the crimpings OF
rammar the unfettered. free expressive
tongue Of the wilderness. the birch bark shack
and the logging camp.
Talking about fishing" said Fergy. the
other man not having spoken for half an hour.
talking about fishing and the funny things
a man sees sometimes when his eyes amt shut.
reminds me of a time when l got tired Of loafina
round Boyd's Hotel and wanted TO do a do on
my own reel. | go down 10 Long Lake and
dump myself into a piroog and go across
and pike along out into thu woods. ] pike FOR
$50 yards straight as n teal flies when il means
AlNlllfN dibl ! lhh DhhA W. u A'NA' '"h"
! never seen before in my life. 1t laid there
among the trees and the alder bushes like a
looking glass, not more'n a acre. and ! wanter
10 say that It was broke from end to end with
ripples made BY the small-mouth bass,
They was two million of EN-. or maybe
they was THREE million, an II was pretty
enough to make a man keep away from whiskey
and he gals forever and ever amen, I dug
-. l.nl. .A,. $500. A.ln, nnI \ didn't hax.
no more bait than would catch a ~starvin' min
ner In a wash BOWL | thought hard for three
and a quarter minutes and then ! out with the
tail OF my red flannel shirt and tore of a hunk
big enough 10 wrap a penknife in. | didn't
need that much, but | wanted fish and the
other guides had plenty Of shirts and We all
bunksd in the same cabin. Now, a little piece
of red flannel amt the most eatful thing in the
world, but. say. them fish was crazy for II.
II hadn't touched the water when twenty-three
Of 'em made a dash for it and one of 'em that
weighed four and a quarter pounds got it
right in the left gill, Then begin the dad
bingedest hurroosh what ever.
The line was in the air most Of the time
going in or coming out, and many n time a fish
would meet the flannel two and "A half feet above
the water. I'd reef it into him the second he
tlT'ltk, 1' u w nbOhfu NV 'Ut llDt ns tdn
touched the lake. and ierked that old quad
ruple multiplying so fast that he'd come In
standing on his ilukes, with maybe his hind
nm Just tipping the water now and again. I
never see such fish. Nobody never did.
Catghpd sixty-one Tad-eyed bass m sixty
minutes HAT. Then my right arm was so tired
that had 10 lift on the string with my left hand
and paddle home with that hand, TOO. ] amt
certain but what they WAS siXty-two, but An
tome Garasha' come down TO the boat 10 meet
me AZ the hotel landing and he was the worst
tsh thief that ever made a track big enough
for two fair--ized men. He was droN ned last
year logging on the Flambeau. and | aint much
doubt that some meat was on his bones made
b. one of them red-eyes. That catch weighed
l52 pounds II ounces, and they want a big
mouth in The bunch.
Fergv has never read Dean Swift and is UNI
aware of the great doctors habit OF reenforc-
ing a washbowl of the Neutrality-suspicious. BY the
dome Of 81. Paul's and 30 forth, but he has the
genius for detail thst marks the accomplished
preyaricator and backs his statements with
such wealth OF little things that the listener
is forced into mute acaulescenoe. II not into
outspoken belief.
The meanest guide I ever bumped agin. :"
he wen, on. was Aleck Hume. He was a
Scotchman. with French blood in him and a
dash Of leech Lake Indian. Idontknow where
II was his grandmother on the mothers side
that give him the Indian tinge and he got the
French, from his fathers,s grandmother. He
told the guests at the hotel that I w'n't no
good. One day on Pickerel Lake me and my
man was out Of bait and Aleck and his man
was down the shore. 200 Yards from us. Aleck
had the bait bucket half full of frogs sitting
behind him and his man was In the stern. |
can outswim any fish that, ever Jumped q lily,
pad to reach a June bug when ! Try, and ] said
nothing 10 my man. Just went over the side
without making a splash and slipped under
the water. The distance was 1876 yards and
there was a big ruffie on from the wind. |
got a good start about eight feet under and
I come up just behind Aleck as true as a pair.
hand over the gunwale, lifted the frog bucket
went under again and the next thing | saw |
was on the far side OF my own boat, holding
up the frogs for my man to see. say. | thought
he'd roll OH the seat.
Coming back was a little harder than going.
might a heard mo, In a little while his man
lost the frog on his hook. They said it was
a NEEDLESS hook. but It got caught in the pads.
Just the same. They amt no weedless hook
sure enough. except one I made, and I'm try
ing to get a patent on 1t. Well, the lang widge
that went over that lake when that man arsked
that guide for them frogs was Just wonderful,
afore. His mar asked sarcastical what brand
of Ticker he was drinking. Then Aleok he said
he was as sober as any dude that ever come out
OF Chicago and his mar said that Aleck was
a liar. Then Aleck got sulky and turned the
boat round and made for the portage back
next day the hotel man that give him his grub
10 hang around and guide for the guests fired
him over two counties. A tree 10 feet high
and u feet 2 inches thick fell on him last winter
up In Rube Smiths camp and mashed him fat
ter than a ladybug. but that don't gimme
back my tobacker.
"Thay's a funny tree right back Of us up on
the hill here. You cOuldn't find il unless I took