The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1906-08-01
A Fisly Love Tale.
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nudge, leaning back in his desk chair
and looking out the window. Uncle
Jimmy and | and Murphy, the guide,
were out casting for bass along the east
shore of Virgin Lake. You remember
the place? There where the bank runs
up forty feet high, with a lot OF jack
pines on the top and old 'Wappy's' cab
in in the middle of them? Close to the
shore there are a lot of tall green bull
rushes. with some big windfall hanging
down among 'em. It's lovely water for
bass
when we started out that morning
1t looked like rain, and Murph' and |
took our slickers along with us.
Murph' said it was sure to rain before
night but Uncle Jimmy knew better.
He wasn't going to be troubled tugging
a lot of slickers across the portages,
he said
Until after noon it was broiling hot
and we got nary a strike from bass.
Uncle Jimmy got few little snakes
and | nabbed a couple of pike, but the
black bass were not biting at all. About
2 o'clock it commenced to sprinkle,
and about the same time the black
bass began to go after our frogs The
rain got heavier and so did the bass.
Murph' and | put on our slickers and
Uncle Jimmy sat there and soaked, but
he was pretty game. Inside Of an hour
we had got twenty bass among us
and the rain was just oozing out OF
Uncle Jimmy.
{" Say he said, finally, when are
you fellows going in? I'm getting
tired
Going in?' said l. with a snort.
Going in? With the bass biting like
this Why, we amt going in TIL IL gets
too dark to cast
"The fish that were rising to our
frogs were all small mouths, and not
one of them weighed less than two
pounds. l had one four pounder and
q couple more about as big. 1t was one
of the days fisherman dreams of. Uncle
Jimmy was having his share of the
luck, but he did look mighty moist and
uncomfortable.
There was a nice little breeze COM
ing out of the west with the rain. The
wind from the west, it it the best you
know. 1t was just enough to blow us
along at the proper rate for casting,
keeping us out at the proper distance
from the lily pads and rushes. Then,
when we got to the end of the cast
ing ground, Murph' would row out
and back again to the beginning of the
weed beds.
by o'clock, for once in my life, l
had got almost enough of bass fishing.
My arm ached from casting and my
reel hand had half dozen good blis-
ters on it. We were all getting pret-
ty careless, fooing with our fish after
we had hooked them and letting them
take all kinds of liberties with us.
Finally l hooked a good three
FOUNDER and, after a hot fight, finally
pulled him up to within ten feet of the
boat. was dragging the fish along
on the top of the water when 'Murph'
the guide, called out, in an excited
whisper, Say, look at that other bass
a-follerin along
I'VE looked and there, right beside
the fish that was hooked, was another
bass little larger, swimming along
with its nose almost touching the head
of the cuss on the spoon. | tell you it
looked mighty peculiar.
What's that mean? asked Uncle
Jimmy.
I amt sure, says Murph,' 'wheth-
er you've hooked lady bass and that's
her husband coming along to try and
help the old lady out of her scrape, or
whether that big fellow behind is the
nav or paw of the fellow that took your
frog. I've seen thing like that hap
pen just once before, and some folks
holds one idee and some the other.
For all know the fish on the hook
may be young lady bass and the big
one her beau. Pull in closer to the
boat and maybe we can tell more about
it,
Il reels in almost all my line and
gets the fish within six feet of the
boat. Still the big fellow followed right
along. Every now and then he'd swim
right up close to the fish on the hook
and rub his nose against its nose. Then
he'd swim alongside of it and seem to
caress it with its fins.
Say says 'Murph,' amt that the
most loving expression you ever seen
on fish's face?'
"And not blamed one of us laughs!
Finally Uncle Jimmy starts out to
try to catch the free bass. He throws
In nice green frog, just the right size
and as lively as cricket. The frog
lands within two inches of the big
bass nose, and the way it kicked and
swum along through the water must
have been most appetizing to a fish,
but that bass never paid the slightest
attention to it. Uncle Jimmy lets his