Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-16
FISH WEREN'T BITING

pies who tried out the Potomac river few
days ago for white or yellow perch or any
other old kind of fish that would bite on
bait are of the opinion that If the Potomac
really contains bait-taking fish then the
Potomac fish must be the foxiest or, at any
rate. the coyest members of their species.
The two mems minds were infiamed By
the stories they read in the local news
papers Of the great catches of white and
yellow perch which the amateur fishermen
were said to be making in the upper Po-
tomac.
Let US repair to where the wild stream
SINGS" they said unto each other, land
fetch back barrel of fish for 'eH to serve
up at our boarding house breakfast table.
Let US go to where there is the music of
the low-laughing water and murmuring
tree, and, incidentally, so deplete the wa
tiers of the upper Potomac of fish that no
man VIII ever be foolish enough to cast his
line there again. We shall take our wives
along with u.s. just to illustrate to them
fishing"
So they both put a one days dent in their
fShin'.
The two men Jared forth together to buy
Jackie. me young man who sold them the
tackle told them just what kind Of gear
they would need for making war on white
and yellow perch, and they bought enough
nShing tackle for at least two dozen people.
Inelr wives got together on the basket
lunch question, and talked about what they
Snould take along in the basket for two
Gays pe1ore the great day. The two young
couples i've IN the same boarding house.
On the evening before they were to start
a-hshln the two men told the landlady, in
careless. ofhand sort of way, that it
wouldn't be necessary for her to buy any
tmng fofthe table for several days to come
70 f,rr, i%,,ro la xrr;<I I,
nne, fat white and yellow perch draw up
before her door on the following evening
ana that she might as well feed the board
efs on nsh for week or so and save lit
another, the landlady didn't appear to be
convinced. Landladies of Washington
poarolng houses are exceedingly skeptical
persons, anyhow,
Ihey got up at 6 o'clock in the morning
bolted an early breakfast, divided the lug
gage, and reached the change-cars place in
georgetown about s. The men had been in
formed that they could buy all the bait they
could use from small boys who would be
yeilng their wares at the end of the car
line. But there wasn't a small boy in sight
when they got there. A car conductor told
the Two men that there was live bait es-
tapllshment down Water street. They
climbed down the long flight of steps, and
aIter ABOUT half an hours blowing around
they found the boat house where the live
bait was for sale. They bought a bucket
VIII etDoul 10, tOS mlnnOWS and a TIN
can nlled with worms. and returned to
where their wives were waiting for them,
Puiing put triumphant On the way to
Chaln bridge in the Cabin John car the two
men came to the unanimous conclusion that
they ddn have enough worm bait, and so
When they LETT the car and reached the
IMAM bridge they bought two more cans
nlled with worms from small boy.
me TWO men came perilously near break
ing their necks and the necks of their wives
IN ciambering over the rocks to reach the
water On the Virginia side. They were
tckieo almost foolish when they saw liter
ally billions of fish in the clear green water,
hghting the current and making for Great
Falls. or
:, We won't do a thing to those babies"
they SAID unto each other, feverishly bait
ing their hooks. IL
Them fish don't bite" said a sardonic-
Looking Looking man who came up behind them
'Them's herrin'. They don't take no hook.
You've got to snag EN-
me sardonlc-looking man was correct
The billions of silver-sided fish whizzlinp nv
close to the rocks were not white nor vet
yellow perch. They were herring. Just
why herring won't take bite on a nice.
tender-looking minnow or a fine, fat worm
was something too deep for the two Young
married couples-all four of them had
started to fsh-but they didn't have their
lines in long before they found that the
herring simply ignored all temptation and
kept Whfzzing on their way up stream A
little distance away men were pulling the
herring out Of the water, however by the
cart load. They were "snaggins 'em. -
They had three-pronged hooks attached to
their lines, and they put no bait whatever
on these three-pronged hooks. They sim
ply cast them into the swift current where
the tremendous schools of herring were
running. and caught the fish by the tails,
or the gflls. or the eyes, or the middies-
any part of the behring's anatomy. The
herring simply ran into the three-pronged
hooks and were pulled out of the water.
Il don't call that fishing" said the two
men unto each other. That is like pulling
lost bucket out of well with graphing
hook. What we want is to get bites-feel
nibbles on the end of our lines, and haul
'em out. And these herring are no account
for pan fish, anyhow. What we want is
perch-white and yellow perch"
Perch hain't bitin' none today., re-
marked the sardonic-looking man
80 we observe" said the two young
married couples in chorus. by the way,
do perch ever bite in the Potomac river?'
For sure replied the sardonic- looking
man, splitting deprecatorily. "Feller up
here yistfddy caught 1854 big white perch
right Were you peoples sittin' tween 8
and o'clock-but perch amt bitin' none
today
These remarks were received with deri-
sion, openly expressed, by the two Young
married couples. None Of them had vet
got much as bite.
They heard a lot of talk during the morn
ing from natives living in the neighborhood
of Chain bridge as to how many white and
yellow perch the man with the SLOUGH hat
had caught day before yistiddy." and
some of the natives opined that the wind
wasn't just right for perch fishing that
day. that they'd begin to bite when the
tide turned, and so on. Just what differ
ence the turning Of the tide could make
for fishing purposes in a part of the upper
Potomac where the current seemed to be
running seward at the rate Of about ten
knots an hour wasn't apparent to the two
young couples. For four hours they fished
that is to say, they kept their lines in the
water-with minn0ws and worms until their
arms ached. Then they bought some crab
meat and tried to tempt the mythical white
and yellow perch with that kind of bait.
No go. Not a bite on any of the four lines.
Then they bought some clans and tried
clam bait. Nothing doing. Nary a bite
among the four. A large portion of their
time was occupied In rerigging their tackle.
for the hooks caught in the rocks beneath
the water. and when this happened they
had to abandon hooks and sinlker and fix
up the business end Of the line all over
again. ThAy lost most of their tackle in
this way.
At o'clock they passed it up They
found a lovely spot near the top of the
palisades and alongside glorious spring.
and they spread the tablecloth on the sWard
and fixed out the basket lunch Coffee was
made over a natural rock fireplace that
looked as If it might have served the
Druids.
After the lunch the two young married