The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-27
Fishermen Return.

The. crowd of fishermen who went down the river day or so ago and accepted Burwell Boykin's hospitality for a few days, returned home yesterday on the Nettie Quill, and all report having had glorious time Mr. Boykin had a large pond damned up for several years, the water being used to run saw and shingle mill. The water thus confined spread out over several hundred acres of land and became full of fish. Some days ago he cut the dam and let the water off gradual ly. until finally the whole flnny tribe were confined in the run of the creek and from the way the fishermen talk 1t would not be amiss to say that they were "as thick as the hair on a dog s back"
 They report having caught 1,0S3 fish in the course of a little over day. A race was ran in given time about two hours. to see who could pull out the most fish. Each man had a negro sit ting near him to bait the hook and take of the fish so that no time would be lost. R. H. Kennedy sat on the stump of an old cypress tree a few yards from the bank, where his hook could reach the deep water of the channel and won the contest by landing sS bream on the bank for his valet to unlock. A. D. Pitts sat on a big cypress log about forty feet across the creek from Mir. Kennedy and came out second best with a catch of s1. It is thought that Alex Pitts would have caught more, but every time Bob Ken nedy would hang particularly fine bream Mir. Pitts would forget his own cork and watch Bob land his bg-eyed beauty. Sadler Caruthers succeeded in catching 6l. while John Norris who was in boat in the middle of the stream. only caught 50 John Norris says if Bob Kennedy and Alex Pitts had not kept up such noise when they succeeded in hooking particularly fine trout or Dream he thinks he would have done great deal better.
 The grindles caught were not counted in the 1.OS3 One of the party says that they caught a. hogshead full of that species. but as they were so full of bones. and not being considered a game fish they were left on the bank or thrown to the hogs nearby.
 Judge P. II. Pitts was also member of the party. He had wsded in about two feet of water in order to get nearer the channel of the creek. Presently a big grindle took his hook and d battle royal was begun between the frightened fish and the excited fisherman All of the other sportsmen knew that the Judge had a monster fish on his line and they yelled and shouted to him, advising him how to land his catch. The fish would dart up stream till he got to the end Of the line and then shoot back down stream with hghtning-like rapidity. The Judge was kept busy to keep his line taut. The big fish finally made straight shoot for the opposite bank and was pull ing away from the fisherman. It was a life and death struggle between the two. ni,t a.ha ha oni0nknrS were beginning to wonder whether the fish or the Judge would win out, the line broke This threw Judge Pitts off his balance and he sat down in two or three feet of water with only his head and disappointed countenance sticking up above the water Judge Pitts believes to this day that he had q trout on his line. but those who know better declare that he got his ducking and had all of his l work and worry over pesky old grindle. Bob Kennedy hung fine trout, which | broke his line above the cork. They chased the cork up and down the creek | for a half hour, until 1t finally disappear | ed under a log. But while they were at dinner the trout succeeded in oosng the cork and when they got back 1t was still bobbing around in the water. A | couple of good negro swimmers got in
 the water and after an exciting ten or fifteen minutes one of them succeeded in
 grabbing the cork and swan ashore with
 the thoroughly weary trout. which was | a beauty.
 The fishermen all came home and told
 many marvellous tales about the number | of fish that each caught. But they all agred on one thing. and that was that they had a glorious time. and each and
 every one of them was singing the praises
 of the generous hospitality of their host | Burwell Boykin.