The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1908-02-04
THE
MAGIC BASS
BY Paul H. Woodruff.
By Paul H. Woodruff.
.~~@-~~~~~~o|~~|--|-S-7

1t was along in the latter part of
March that | dropped il on Jack one
evening and found him inspecting a
short, fiimsy looking fish-pole.
You must have it bad" / observed.
ITO go fishing in March, with the ice
not all out yet"
Jack looked at me in mild astonish-
ment.
''Why. I'm not going fishing" he re-
piled, cant you know. Bass sea-
son don't open til the 18th of MAY.
I'm just looking over my tackle bit,
to be sure everything is ship-shape.
In fact" he added, IL may confess
that | will probably do the same thing
every day from now till the season
opens"
Wei, | suppose you have nothing
else to do with YOURSELF" was my
scornful comment It's a pity, Jack,
that you haven't got mans work to
do' TO make you remember you're not
a kid. How grown, one hundred
and eighty pound man can spend val
liable hours-yes, days in trying to
fool and capture by strategy a little
four-pound fish that he don't need is
beyond me. But to idle away the
best of the year in gazing at the tools
he uses to delude and ensnare the
Shiny objects is-well, the limit"
$50 you call four-pound bass lit
tie, do you? Shows you know nothing
about 1t. Pretty long remark for you,
though, doctor" said Jack with
grin.
That's the trouble with Jack. When
you get him with an unanswerable ar
gument he grins. One might as well
allow him his view of things. for he
will take it anyway.
We'll, Jack" | resumed in less in
dignant one, II will concede that you
enjoy it, But | should see the point
more clearly if you fishermen were
adding anything to the worlds store
of knowledge. If you were discover
Ing new species of fish, or ways OF
propagating them scientifically |
might be interested"
1--WE are adding to the worlds store
of simplicity, and contentment. and
right living" he replied seriously
But you bring something to my mind
that ! am very curious about. Per
haps Won would catalogue it as a sci
entific discovery.
THE Indians call it Media Mon-nuh-
she-gan. which translated means
Magic Bass. He is said to be much
like other black bass in appearance.
But HIS peculiar attributes are these:
He must be caught by casting.
with a surface bait, so that YOU can
see him rise to IT, He may be taken
In running water where the clear cur
rent foams over messy powders and
through gurgllng. sunHt shadows:
OF in the silent pools where the forest
hangs darkly over the stream. He may
be taken at some still lakes grassy
marge where the water lilies build
him green and white and golden
canopy; or In the open places when
the west winds magic turns the
CLASSY surface into silver.
But wherever you find him YOU
will see that Nature rules supreme
And whether I'm brawling stream or
quiet pool, I'm some peaceful ilied bay
or just beneath the rippled broad ex-
panse. whore the wild beauty Of the
spot makes your heart beat faster
there may you find the Magic Bass.
"And this is his magic That when
you have fought him inch by inch.
and have looked upon him as he lay
exhausted in your landing net. you
are his forever. For wherever you 20
and whatever you do there will come
20 YOU ever md often a dream OF his
first leap into the air. OF the Juggling
line and Of his body az your feet and
indistinct behind it all Will lie the
sparkling water, aud the forest and
the blue sky
I'm the dead OF winter you will OF
sudden hear the soft splash OF the
bass rising to your fly; You viii feel
the sudden tautness OF the line. and
the snow outside your window VIII
melt into summer landscape. When