Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1918-11-30
WONDERFUL FISH STORIES

l am inclined to think that persons who
have fished for Mississippi mud cats, have
not always stuck to the truth in describing
their catch, and it is perfectly natural for
one big fish story to call for bigger one
and with willing listeners it's not long COM
ing Zone day as I was rowing up the
creek in my canoe "a small tributary OF the
Mississippi on my way home after having
a poor days catch) said an old-time river
fisherman, all Of sudden the water began
to bubble and foam and 1 slowed down to
see what was the trouble, and almost before
l could say Jack Robinson a monstrous cat
fish shot out Of the water at terrific force
and fell in my boat. It's Topping up and
down almost wrecked my rather frail craft
and observing my danger 1 began beating
the fish over the head with my oar and con-
tinued doing so until it was sufficiently
stunned to warrant no further trouble and
then began to pull for home, but as 1 did
so vicious alligator shot his head out of the
water and with it's big red eyes looked dag
gers at me. That cat tipped the beam at
$50 pounds, which gave me one of the finest
catches l had enjoyed for long, long time. -
My friend told the above story just as
nestly as if he had not had a full gallon OF
John Barleycorn in the boat with him that
morning when he left for his fishing field.
''Once when some boys were in the river
swimming huge catfish tried to swallow
the foot and leg of half grown boy, but
before it could do so and get away a man
hunting for ducks observed the phenomena
and shot Mr. Fish through the head and not
only saved the life Of the boy, but caught the
fish and it was large enough to supply the
community with first class fish fry" The
old hunter, who told the above fish story was
not professional prevaricator, but [ always
wondered how he missed the boy when he
shot the fish, his explanation, however, was
that it was an act of providence that saved
the life of the boy, but as [ grow older [
am more inclined to the belief that Provi-
dence was not present at the time unless it
was in the bottle of bourbon that he carried
in his hip pocket.
An old fisherman and his son went down
to examine a trot line they had stretched
across stream, which flowed into the river
and on reaching their destiny they soon dis
covered they had a monster catch, which
they soon learned was monster river cat,
which the father said weighed one thousand
pounds. For a man and twelve year old
boy to land a cat fish that large was some
job, but after an hour s hard labor they did
so and while Dad reset the trot line the boy
was put to hold the fish lest he flip and
flop and get back into the water, and safety
first being his motto, he tied rope in the
glls of the fish and then Topped it around the
boys waist. 81 was no sooner out in the
water than that fish seemed to get the devil
into it and jumped and skipped like
chicken with it's head cut off and my boy
began to cry for help because the fish got
nearer the water every time it Topped over.
1t was some ways back and before I got
started [ heard the fish and the boy splash
into the water. My boy was game, and
having learned to swim like fish he kept
his head above the water though the big
cat was darting here and there like a dog
with hydrophobia. With the end of the line
tied around the boys waist and the other
IN the gills Of the fish the boy served as
bob cork to hold the fish in tow [ went to
the boys rescue as rapidly as 1 could and
L reached him none too early as the big fish
was about to take him under. I succeeded
after hard struggle in pulling my boy
into the boat and then q hatt1a rova1 fol