Mexico weekly ledger., 1905-05-25
P. N. MORRIS REPLIES
TO JUDGE KENDALL
Is Not Willing to be Robbed Of his
Lanrels as a Fisherman.


Dear Sir; l see some OF my Mexico
friends are disposed to rob me OF my
laurels as a fisherman. DR.. Bourne
he told me that fish story before
l left Missouri last September, ha! hal
Now that is pretty good and Just like
DIR. Bourne. 1t amt the first time be
has been caught at that kind Of bust
ness. l have been fishing with him
aud he never caught a fish. III have
to turn him over TO Jim Browning and
Joe Williams, he'll bear watching.
Then Judge Kendall butts In and
tries to lessen the effect OF my fish
story by telling what he did forty
years ago, says l failed to state the
size Of my fish when l positively stated
that the Shad were from Ia to 20
inches long and weighed from 2 to 3
lbs. each / should have said 2 to lbs.
Now he not only failed to give the
size and weight Of his fish but forgot
to give the number he caught but
said he got all be wanted. Well that
was just what the boy said when he
got whipped. Bat the judge was hon
est and candid enough to say that be
did not doubt that every word | said
was true, so here's my hand, and l
wish he could have been with us. The
Judge showed me up in "Good Shape"
sure enough 1t reminded me Of Un'
Gle Tommy Ellington's story OF losing
bis pocket book. He was driving some
hogs to Mexico and missing his pocket
book with Is dollars in IL, left the
hogs in a fence corner and going back
searched some time, falling to lind 1t
went on TO town, delivered his hogs
and ON bis way back, took another
look and found 1t, and said he felt so
good he had a great mind to lose 1t
Just so the judge showed me
up In such good shape and made me
feel so good that | am going to tell
another fish story. This is the season
for fish stories; and l know that Joe
Moore, Robt. Herman, Warren Har-
per, W. A. Morris and George Malone,
Il leave out DR.. Bourne for he can't
catch fish at all) and all the other
knights of the Rod in Mexico will
read and enjoy all the fish stories that
are reliable.
A few weeks after my "Shadden''
trip, Bro. Bently and myself took a
day off and went back to the same
place prepared for both cat and shad.
After catching about twenty pounds
of cat, about 4:30 p. m. we laid aside
our poles and taking our dip nets tried
for shad, We had to sink u nets
deep, as the shad run near the bottom
in the day time, only coming near the
surface along about sunset. 1t is
pretty hard work holding a net ten
feet under water with mouth Of net
down stream and requires quick action
to bring the net up when you feel
them strike without letting them get
out. In less than two hours | landed
~twenty-three and Bro. Bently eleven,
making more than one hundred pounds
of sbad. Some Of them weighed 4
pounds for We put the scales to them
had scales on them already.
They are beautiful fish when lifted
out OF the water and the sun shines on
them, they glisten and show all the
colors OF the rainbow. Having all and
much more than we wanted, we had
either to quit or catch them and
throw them back into the river or
feed them to the hogs on the bank
that were there feeding on fish that
had been left by other parties. The
bank of the river for two hundred
yards was covered with shad scales
where people had dressed their fish.
People come TO that place from the
mountain towns thirty miles away and
haul the fish away In wagons and ped
die them out in the mountain towns.
We loaded up and left the beautiful
San joaquin just as the SUI raj dis
appearing over the Coast Range. Next
morning | sent the boys and Jim Har-
rison at Stockton, by express nine fine
large shad. The first time ! had sent
them four and they sent word back to
send "more fish and less Stories" l
haven't had any calls for nor fish or
stories either since. They had to dis
tribute the fish among their neigh
bors. These California cat fish differ
from the Missouri breed. The Mis-
souri, cat don't always bite, but these
bite any and all times, bite off any
thing and everything, even bit my
fingers and chawed up my right fore
finger scandalously. Now there are
two nor fish / want to catch, one is
q SOilptu bdoo duu OHC ObucI d bdl-
mon, but 1t takes experts to get them,
Of course Judge Kendall could do it
easily.
II this article was not too long al
ready | would give you a sketch OF
some Of my fishing chums here, Bro.
BentlY, Judge Minor and some other
Missourians. Bently Is an old Audrain
county man and lived near Sturgeon
and left there In 1850. He Is rs years
old and as jolly a fellow as you ever
meet. Weighs 200 lbs, has black hair
and can jump up and crack bis heels
together like a Is year old. III bet
DIR. Bourne can't do that. Judge
Minor is a brother Of j. II. Minor, Of
Mexico, aud is n OF the boys also. /.
will rest now on fish stories and let
your readers have a rest also.
Z. NJ. NORRIS.
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