The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-10


,,no do not mind losing a little sleep.
a,,qht to do well with the bass during
49, next few days. AS has been said
lumber of times before in this
-arnmn. the night and very early morn
trg fishing for the big fellows has
,,roved best this season. Before day
I,qbt catches have been the best for
some weeks The tides to-day at Ty-
bee Light will be as follows: High.
on a. m. and 5:95 p. M; low, 11:20 a.
IN.
Those who get out to the drops
very. very early during the next few
DAYS. with a plenty of cut mullet or
crab bait, ought to be able to snag
some good fish.
The Jonah Fisherman.
Talking about hard luck fishing
Stories" said the Jonah fisherman, Il
am sure l can top any story you can
recount with the simple and true mar
rarive of my experiences during the
mast three years. In all this time l
have been fishing faithfully and pa
tiantlv, using the best tackle and the
hest available bait. And not once dur
ing that time have | caught a good
fsh. nor has a good fish been taken
nv any boat in which / have flshed.
Fishermen within twenty feet of us,
i'm another boat. have caught 20-pound
bass But not a strike has come our
way.
Here is a fair instance of my luck:
For the Fourth of July holidays ! was
one of a party of five, made up to
go out from LaZaretto to the training
wall. VIC had a. big sail boat engaged;
one for the proper and convenient
handling of which four to five men are
required. Well, three of the five fail
ed to show up. That left two-fifths
of the prospective crew to handle the
boat Otherwise stated, only myself
and one other fisherman reported for
duty at the appointed time and place
We two, however, resolved to make
the trip, Notwithstanding our short
handedneSS.
After an hours hard. hard work,
we caught the training wall, and began
fishing. The sheephead and drum had
apparently all gone South or in
some other direction as not one bit
But we caught a few good bull-head
whiting, some black fish and trout AS
our small fish were brought over the
gunwale We dropped them into q
crocus bag hung over the side, so as
to keep them alive, and fresh. We
caught between twenty-five and thir-
~, during the continuance of the
favorable tide. congratulating ourselves
that we would have nice little punches
of pan fish to take home.
But, when it came time to draw
the bag in and go home, only one, soli-
tarY, lonesome little trout was found
In the bag! A hole in the side of the
Crocus, heretofore unobserved, show
ed how the other fish had escaped and
returned to their wonted feeding
grounds!
,Tbo+ mas o,,o,,-rI &. Ill ..--.:..
10 make a fisherman sick at heart
But when | told my employer of the
fatal hole in the unsDeakable bag next
day, he merely smiled and said, Look
here, Jonah, 1 don't know whether
You are lying, or were drunk on that
trpt
That is why | have given away all
of my tackle and shall never go fish
ing again. The hard work and the
hard luck were bad enough; but to
be accused of prevarication and drink
ing to excess-when there was not even
water aboard-was 9 mutch.' in the
language of Artemus Ward"
Fishing VS.. Baseball.
The sloop Star sailed for St. Cath
arine's sound last Saturday,
having on board a goodly company of
city fishermen. They sang songs and
told funny stories on the way down,
from time to time descanting on the
big, game fish they intended catching
once the drops were reached. In good
and proper son the vessel reached
St. Catharines; lines were put over
and the fishing began. There was MINI
BILE biting, to be sure; but almost every
fish hooked proved to be a cat A well
known and eloquent lawyer, one of the
party, pulled off his coat, rolled up his
sleeves, threw his hat on the deck,
and relieved his mind, in eloquent peri
DDS, of catfish in general and those of
st. Catharine's in particular. Then
he reminded the company that two
games of baseball were to be played in
town on the Fourth. and insisted that
If the party had any idea of seeing
them, it was time to hustle. Eager
hands flew to the anchor cable, and the
halyards, and in a jiffy the Star was
rushing to town with a bone in her
teeth. The fishing trip had not been
a hoWltng success, but the town f1Sh-
ermen howled themselves hoarsa at
the Fourth of July baseball games.
'COOns, Bears and Turtles.
A correspondent writes referring
to your story of bears hunting for and
eating turtle eggs, l can affirm that
IN Florida / have seen bears not only
hunting the beach for turtles nests,
Jul nave Stel NlGIl WdlllHB IOI lui-
ties to lay their eggs, when the bears
would push the turtles away, eat the
eggs and amble off into the woods.
Raccoons, too, are very fond of tur-
tie eggs, and are as expert in finding
the nests of the amphibians as any
other 'coons" ever were. Having
found a turtles nest, the raccoon will
stick his fore finger through the parch-
ment-like shell and suck the egg with
as much relish as a topper will gulp
a morning bracer. On one occasion.
IN Florida, I watched a coon eat tur-
tie eggs for as much as half an hour.
But he couldn't exhaust the supply
in the nest. When he had eaten all
he could, he filled his arms with eggs
and. walking upright like man or
a bear, carried the load behind the
sand dunes and buried them in a place
which, presumably. he marked against