The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1911-09-22

/ blackfshing and regular excursion
boats are frequently run to the banks
with large parties on board. They
generally return laden with spoils.
Launches and sailboats are also used,
and along the coast skiffs carry out
many fishermen. On Saturdays and
Sundays, from April until November
there can be seen issuing from every
| harbor hundreds Of little craft bound
for the haunts OF the blackfish. Here
/ they anchor and remain all day, sell
dom failing to land a good catch.
Small launches make the best
means of conveyance, because they
enable one to reach the likeliest
lodges Chose near shore are pretty
well fished out) and because their
shallow draft permits Of their run
ming safely into the rocky places In
habited by the fish. Sailboats are
rather dangerous in this respect and
1t is no rare occurrence to see one
hung up high and dry by the falling
tide. Rowboats are very convenient
for near-shore fishing, but rather
risky. Squalls are likely to come up
at any moment and make matters
more than interesting for the FISH
ers.
The blackfish Is said never to desert
his home waters and ii is a fact that
he never visits the rivers like do the
salmon and the sturgeon to lay his
spawn. At the advent Of the cold
weather he becomes torpid and goes
into Information, not emerging again
into life until spring. April makes
the return Of his appetite and fisher
men time the period of his reappear-
ance with the Towering Of the dog
wood. From then until November he
can be caught, though there is time
in midsummer, during the excessive
heat, when he will only be tempted by
the daintiest Of delicacies. By Sep
tember he is feeding voraclousIy
again. however, so the slack season
only lasts a few weeks
The bait commonly used for black
fish is the soft-shell clam and the fid-
dler crab Knowing anglers swear va
riously by shrimp, hermit crab, sand
worm hard clam and the tail-end Of a
chicken lobster as irresistible NOR
sells when the fish are not biting well,
but, as a rule, there is no necessity
for special bait
The securing of a soft-shell clam on
the hook is a task that requires con-
summate skill Wherever lives the
blackfish is to be found also in great
abundance the small fish called the
bergaIt or Gunner, and the bergalt
has a particular fondness for clans
and flendish cleverness in separating
them from hook. While he is about
it you feel a few gentle nibbles and
then motion ceases. You pay no at
tention, of course, but after waiting
vainly for a bite you decide to inspect
the bait and find to your surprise that
it is gone. The hook is picked as
clean as a whistle A motionless line,
free from nibbles has come to indicate
a baitless hook to the seeker Of the
blackfish.
The most effective way of checking
the predatory instinct of the bergait
Is to bait with the entire clam, shell
and all. This is done by inserting the
hook into the protruding neck Of the
clam, twisting it around until it is
firmly imbedded into the hard mus
Gle of the bivalve and then crack
ing the shell lightly. Prepared this
way the clam is easily taken into the
big mouth of the blackfsh, but pre-
sents an armored surface to the begalt
which he attempts vainly- to break
through.
The vast majority of blackflsh
anglers being fishermen rather than
sportsmen, and counting the days en-
ioyment only from the standpoint of
the catch, scruple not to minimize as
much as possible the fish's chances of
escape. They use heavy hand lines
provided with two or three good