The National tribune., 1902-08-07
PIONEER DAYS IN TEXAS.
A Troopers Luck IN Catching Big Fish
in the Red Colorado.
BY JOHN A. BROOKS, 4rH U. S. CAV. T

DI JOhN n. DnOohS, TN Cs SaNs u
/ had seen large catfish taken out OF
the lower Mississippi River, but had never
taken much interest in them; was not q
| fisherman; l had not patience enough 70
sit half day on top of a pile of driftwocd
or in the stern of boat and wait for a
half-pound fish to come along and take my
bait, and it remained Tor me TO catch my
first big fish in the Red Colorado River, in
Western Texas.
The stream is a fork of the big Colo
RADIO River, and flows east half way he
tween the COncho River and old Fort
Chadbourne. The wagon road that we
used between these two points crosses it
where it cuts it's way through high
prairie. The banks here are at least 10
feet above low water, making the river
look something like a canal. 1t was only
20 yards wide Mt this ford. and less than
| three feet deep at low water, but just be-
low the ford there was a deep hole that
was said to contain very large catfish;
they went under the name of buliheads.
had no tackle, nor had anyone else here,
so l sent to n house in New York, telling
them what | wanted it for; l did not at
that time know the numbers of either
hooks or lines. They sent me at least 100
hooks, running from 40 up to No. Z, and
lot of sea-grass lines, enough for a whole
company; but l was afraid that their lines
were not strong enough, the largest being
only about No. 4. They proved 70 be
plenty strong enough when | afterwards
gave them to other men; l did not use
them, but got about a hundred feet of
heavy line from our Quartermaster, that
he had for chalk lines. then putting 10
hook on the end of this line, next forged
some iron sinkers-I had no lead-and put
one of them on, then waited for Il chance
to get to the river.
The chance soon came. A few wagons
were going out TO a camp that we had on
the North Concho with forage and rations,
and | was sent III charge of them. | took
L DluzZle-loading shotgun; we had no
breech-loaders then, at least none out here
| believe l had the first breech-loader that
had ever been seen this far West-a pin
fire gun, made out of old muSiet barrels
by Johnston, of Pittsburg-but this was
several years after Ihad got the fish. took
with me the only two dogs l had then,
Spot and Jeff. Spot was Il big greyhound.
while Jeff was 20Opound mongrel. half
bulldog and half bloodhound. We got to
the river early i'll the afternoon and found
that it had 10 feet of water in it. \ rain
farther West had caused the rise. 1t
would be down to three feet again by next
day. a man, with his wife, several chill
dren, and 30 head of cattle and number
of cowboys, we're in camp here waiting for
the river to go down, so that he could
cross. He was taking his cattle to Cali
fOrnia, and had his family with him to
give them an outing. This outing would
take the better part of two years, as he
would have to return the same way he
went. overland. There were no railroads
out here then.
As soon as we had camped began fish
ing Batting the hook with fresh beef. l
picket pin driven into the ground few
feet back from the bank and left it while
| and Spot went hunting. Jeff was too
lazy to hunt.
l came back in an hour and tried the
line. | had a fish on it, and big one,
judging from the way he pulled. l began
to drag in the line, and had about all |
could do to get the fish to the top of the
water. Then, when | did get him up, he
gave a jerk that came near dragging NE
in along with him, and let so; then, goins
over to the wagons, got Il man to help me.
Together we hauled the nsh to the top
again, while another man. taking in the
slack of the line, made it fast to the pin.
| had his head on top of the water now;
then taking my pistol, | took careful aim
at his head, fired, and missed him by
foot. but the next shot got him; then, after
we had given him time to die, we hauled
him in close to the bank, but l would have
to lift him up three feet or more to get
him out of the water, and was afraid that
| might lose him if I depended on this
hook and line, so | cut Il long rod with
hook on the end of it and, getting it
through his gills, we at last got him upon
the grass, then dragged him across to the
wagons. He was yellow catfish. There
are both blue and yellow catfish in the
river at this point The nearest estimate
that l could get of his weight wa; 100
pounds. Some of the men put it at 12O
pounds. | thought so or 30 would be
about right. He measured 4 feet IL inches
in length. | did not measure his girth.
When his jaws We're extended stick IL
inches long just propped them open.
The cook cut steaks off him as large as
q dinner plate. l had him leave about a
foot of his head and neck and foot next
to his tail for my dogs, but the greyhound
would not touch him; his meals had gen.
orally to be cooked for him. Jeff, how
ever, made well sustained attempt to eat
him ALL but after several trials he had to
give up and crawl in under wagon and
lie down.
l cut the line in two next and, putting a
hook on the other end of it, threw both in
again, and just before dark hauled out
two more fish, one on each line; one Of
them, yellow cat. would weigh about 40
pounds; the other, a blue, was somewhat
smaller These | gave to the cattleman's
family; then batting the lines, threw them
in again and left them in all night. There
We're two blue ones ON next morning, each
about 80 pounds in weight. The cattle
men got these, also. l did not want
them.
The river had fallen during the night.
and about 10 o'clock in the forenoon we got
across, but it was still rather high for
these small trio-horse wagons that this
man had. He was afraid to try to cross
yet, and said that he would remain day
or two longer before he made the attempt.
told him that it might rain west of this
again and send the river up, and offered to
take the leader and strong mules out of
some of my six-mule teams and pull him
across. Had he let me do it he would
have saved his little girls life. She was
shot few hours after we left them. We
made the trip to the Concho and started