The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-06-19
BASS FISHING
SEASON OPEN
Morris Experts Have Unusually
Good Luck During the
First Open Days
SOME BIG ONES BROUGHT HOME


Caught on Fly-County Clerk voor-
hees Finds that Small Mice Make
Excellent Bait for the Fish in Pow
der Mill Pond.
The season for black bass fishing
opened Monday and will close the last
day OF November. The season, there
fore, is long one, and every one so in
clined will have an opportunity to go
forth in search of adventure with the
gamey bass. 1t has been reported,
and Of course reports are to be credited,
that bass are plentiful in all the sur
rounding haunts of the fisherman. If
events demonstrate that the report is
justified, there will be joyous thump-
ing, meath the WaiStcoat of every
lover of the piscatorial art in this
section To many men there is no
sport more attractive than bass fishing,
unless it be the joy they receive in
telling what happened when they
got the strike. Many times
they exaggerate the joy expert
enced when they first felt the
magic pull on the line Occasionally
their enthusiasm moves their tongues
to strange tales when relating the
incidents which followed that touch.
Almost any kind of a fisherman can
catch mess of ordinary fish such as
perch, suckers and catfish, but the
successful fisherman must know a
whole lot of things. He must know
what bass hunger for, where they are
to be found seeking food and their
favorite hours for feeding. More than
that, the up-to-date bass fisherman
must know what kind of a hook, rod
and line to use, and also know to a
nicely how to bait the hook to the
best advantage, how to cast the line
and how to wait with patience
usually alot of patience, for strike -
Moreover, before the man can lay
claim to being successful bass fisher
man he must be able to distinguish
between "nibble" and the real thing
in the ''bite" line. Then, more than
all else, he must have an expert knowl-
edge and considerable experience
in just what to do with his rod and
line after he has ''hooked" the fish.
The bass is a hard fighter and the
mere hooking of the active wriggler is
but small part of the work, or
pleasure, of the game.
Morristown has many who know
every trick of the sport and most of
them went out Monday. A little
matter like heavy rains, accompanied
by pneumonia-infected weather, had
no effect upon them. Some of them
accomplished feats that would have
caused blush to rise to the expert
features of the Hon. Grover Cleye-
land, of National fishing glory. DR..
w. G. Sharp brought home (note the
care with which the words brought
home" is selected) one of the finest
bass seen in this city this year. The
doctor had been fishing in Shongum
Lake that day with "hy" Fishermen
say that it is very unusual for bass
to take a ''tiy' at this time of year,
but at any rate the fish weighed five
and one-half pounds, and was beauty.
Commissioner Mcclellan is one of the
most expert, and took Carl Vogt up
to Woodport to give him some object
lessons in "How to catch big bass"
The lesson was great success, but
there is considerable of knack about
handling a light rod which these
gentlemen keep to themselves. How
ever, they had some very fine fish and
this is really the important part of
the tale, County Clerk Voorhees, had
a far-away look in his eyes Monday,
Tuesdayand Wednesday, but on Thurs
day it vanished. He had been too
busy to get away during the first days
Of the open season, but on Thursday
there was let-up and he hied him
self to "Powder Mill Pond" He took
the fish commissioner along as a wit
ness. The efficiency of mice as bait
was one of the questions which had
been troubling Mr.. Voorhees, for some
time, and he was seen to have a mys-
terious box under his arm. "Powder
Mill" is a small pond, and the waters
have lowered considerably since Mr.
Voorhees, began to use mice for bait.
His largest fish, however, failed to
make the indicator Quver when placed
at five pounds.
Samuel Babcock had a nice mess of
trout Wednesday night. He had them
on exhibition, fourteen in number
and there were those mean enough to
begin talking about cleaning out
bitches just about that time. From
Lake Hopatcong comes a weird tale
about bass weighing nine and one
quarter pounds. The author Of the
tale is subscriber, and the story
must come from other sources. James
S. Hall and Fred Muchmore are among
the experts. They usually have good
luck and this season proved no excep-
tion. G. A. Rutan and several others
brought home good catches. In fact
there has been plenty of sport for the
experts this week and they have all
taken advantage of it.
Bostonesque In Expression.