The Minneapolis journal., 1902-10-25


n r called on to explain Wen You git back;
jes' say you didn't ketch nothin n let 1t 60 at
that. No tellin' bout big uns Citing away,
ner nothin' else; nobody won't bleeve you, not
little bit.
PHILOSOPHY of Mr.. Wheaton.
I couldn't get away in time to catch the
"biting spell'; of the lake trout this fall.
No more could Will Powers. or Jack
Bernie, though there was a bet up be-
tween the three Of us, and a deep, though
friendly spirit of rivalry besides; three
several matches having been played in
time past, and victory apiece scored.
But the hardware trade has been SO
eager that Win and Jack have been fairly
nailed to the store since the season opened
while my own hands have been SO full
Of saw logs, that I've not been able TO
find room in either for gun, or rod for "a
coon's age" But last Saturday night
came in a gentleman from Trout lake,
bearing the intelligence that the trout
were biting hard, and we just had to try
them once. Will couldn't make it, trav-
cling man being in town whom he couldn't
pass up till an important deal was con-
cluded, but Jack and / could, and were
on the road before daylight Sunday morn
ing.
We picked up Bill Richardson, who
knows the lake bottom thoroughly, on
our way out, and were on the water by
half past eight, about as we'll convinced
as men could be that we were due TO
take in goodly string of the misnamed
but exceedingly toothsome fish we were
after.
I had secured at expense of much labor
couple Of dozen Of the finest sinners
that ever tempted big fish to his undo
ing, and when a big one won't bite on
| a flve-inch sinner his appetite is out OF
gear; we had the famous No. Skinner
spoon, white on both sides, and feathered
in white, and both lines were pure white,
with long white gut leaders; and what
more could mortal do to ensure success.
Trout Are Not ObIIslng.
And the day was just right. There had
been good frost during the night, the
| wind came strong and bracing from the
| northwest, but was not too strong for
rowing, the sun doing business
enough to keep our blood in circulation,
and in short it was up to the trout to do
the rest Which they most persistently
! declined to do, at least so far as 1 was
concerned.
Can any man tell why it is that with
two men in a boat, both using the same
| bait same length of line, same kind OF
line, same everything else, one Will get
there in Misunderstanding measure, and
! the other get left to the feminine royal
| taste? The men of science say that there
Is no such thing as luck; that success in
|
Of prompt advantage taken of opportunl-
ties, and. Of hard work; but If not In
! heaven and earth, there certainly are
more things in the waters under the
earth than are known in the philosophy
of the wisest scientific sharp who ever
disguised his ignorance of subject under
a fog Of polysyllables.
We swung up the lake shore, seeking a
famous trout bed whereon I had never
before failed Of a catch, and as we en-
tered the cove In which it lay. Jack had
strike, and after a nice little battle,
landed a fve-pounder. Now this good
trout bed is but some four to five hundred
yards In length, and each circling Of 1T
ought to be good for at least one of the
delicious fish, But be that as it used to
was, it wasn't that way then
Jack Lands a PIckereI.
We went around it twice, and then
| Jack got another strike, fierce one this
time, and fight of twenty minutes fol-
lowed, ending in Bill gaffing and taking in
a fifteen-pound p1ckerel, fish ordinarily
despised in this country, but very good
eating when taken from the icy cold
waters Of the little lake, which are colder
than those of Lake Superior the year
round. And all this time I just fshed.
Then three more turns were almost
completed and the tip of Jacks rod went
down, and I, who had kept on fishing,
pound trout, which he did in beautiful
STYLE And afterwards I f1shed. Around
we went again and again, till about the
middle Of the sixth revolution Jack took
in ten n-pounder pick fshed for the fun
Of it as from the start.
After which I moved a change of base,
and another noted bed was sought out. !
kept on fishing. We circled the new
ground once without result but on the
come back Jack got another vicious
strike and I quit fishing, reeled in, and
had the happiness of watching him land
a six-pound trout, after which the pro-
cession moved on and I went to fishing
again. "
kept on fishing till Jack hooked an
other trout and by way Of breaking my
hoodoo attempted to gaff the fish, as usu-
al with Jack, a big one, and only sue
ceeded in knocking him off the hook, and
thereby adding at least so per cent to the
deep admiration with which Jack and
Bill had been regarding my proceedings.
After which Jack caught two more big
pickerel, and fished till had had about
as much of that eXhausting sport as my
nature could stand without refreshment,
and moved a landing for dinner. The mo-
tion being carried, we landed in the door
yard of deserted farm and sought the
shelter of the house during the meal
Hoodoo Keeps On Working.
I was inclined to feel like the world
was hollow and my doll stuffed with saw .
dust" but the contents Of uor lunch bas-
kets, and a good smoke afterwards put
me into q better frame Of mind, and /
made up my mind that, there being un-
doubtedly as good fish in the lake as Jack
had taken out Of it., it stood to reason
that I ought to get some of them during
the afternoon. And surely, after the way
my. hoodoo had ridden me during the
morning, it ought in common decency,
to have quit In the afternoon. But it
didn't, not it. It was evidently bent on
working overtime, and kept me just fish
ing up to o'clock, when it dismissed me
with a contemptuous kick In the shape
, of a pound and a half "snake."
And Jack had three more trout, not one
less than a f1ve-pounder, and two more
big picks. He was we'll content to go
home, and back we started with a big
bran sack full of .Ash, and in imminent
danger of exploding under the pressure
Of the thousand-pound-to-t the square
inch load Of gloom I was carrying. Ar
riving at Bills place we dropped him,
Jack doing the generous in the ash-divi-
sion way, and then letting the team out
for home at a gait that made things hum
an the way in. They huTnnaed a little
more after we got there, too, for when
we drove up to his gate. at which hfs wife
was waiting, we found the sack Of fish
was gone, and not even scale had we to
stct,nuy A e som r. 't;1ro