The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-06-24

knew more about bait, lines and all
sorts of tackle than any living man.
John Marshall had fished the lake for
more than twenty years, and tradition
said that he could get into a boat any
time and row straight to the spot
where the biggest lot Of bass was 10
Gated. He was quite as industrious
a fisher as the judge, and we figured
that as each one would catch three
times as many bass in the course of
the summer as any other angler the
chances of landing the biggest were in
their favor
1T got along well toward the end
Of the summer and the judge was
leading with a monster fish whose Off
cial weight was recorded at five
pounds and thirteen ounces. John
Marshall had landed one that tipped
the scales at just a trifie over five
pounds, but his hopes Of beating the
judge were acknowledged to be slim.
Some others strung along with four
FOUNDERS but the judges fish was the
biggest ever caught in the lake since
the club was organized, and he had
figured out just how he would have
the medal engraved and had invited
several friends to help him drink the
wine.
Il am not much Of fisherman, and
I had no expectation at any time of
best bass I had taken was only a trifie
over three pounds, and I had serious
doubts Of ever being able to land a
five FOUNDER il I got one on my hook.
One hot day, however, when had been
fishing for some hours without any
T, luck, I was just about to start for the
shore, when I struck something that
felt like a half-grOwn sperm whale.
My line went whizzing out so fast that
the reel fairly screamed, but man
aged to check the shark before he got
| it all out. I played him for three
quarters Of an hour before I finally
got a net under him.
He certainly was a beauty, and
looked fully as big as the judges prize
winner I took UP the scales and
weighed him. Just five pounds and
nine ounces.
"Then I lifted up my voice and cried
and cursed to think I had come so
near winning and failed. Just then I
would have given a years salary if
that fish had gone six pounds. Then
a thought struck me-
when carried that fish up to the
club house I could see men coming on
the run from all directions. Before the
/ fish was weighed at least six bets We're
made that it would go over the judges
mark. The judge stood by, affecting
Indifference, but a good deal worried,
; nevertheless. John MarSnau was open
/ " gloating, for he preferred to be
| beaten by me than by the judge, whom
he hated as one can hate a successful
rival
Six pounds and one ounce, said the
/ president.
] Then the judge swore, probably for
the first time in ten years. His white
/ hair stood straight up. and he fairly
/ foamed with rage.
/ I don't believe it, he shouted. The
/ scales are fixed
I If you DOUBT the accuracy of the
! official scales, judge, said the presi-
/ dent stif1y, you are at liberty to try
! your own
THE judge did, and his own scales
! gave me half an ounce more than the
official ones. The medal was mine, for
nothing over five pounds was caught
again that year"
But I thought you said the bass
/ only weighed five pounds and nine
ounces when you caught him." said
/ Paretic No. 10.
Have you ever read Mark Twain
story Of the Jumping Frog asked
| No. %. when that fish was weighed
at the club there was just six ounces
I of buckshOt inside him. If any one had
been sharp enough to turn him upside
down my name would have been mud
but they didn't"