The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-18

leach. shading off to white belly On the tail Is usually a round black velvety spot a little smaller than a dime. Sometimes another similar | spot appears near the lower part ot the side,
 One beauty about the reddish is his tough mouth. When once hooked he seldom shakes off or tears out In fact, I've never known a reddish to leap out of the water. After he strikes and you begin to reel him you never see him until near your boat. He hangs close to the bottom all along the route. There are usual ly eight or ten runs and lunges; and most of them are quite vigorous. If you are not experienced in thumb ing your reel you are liable to lose a little skin or perhaps your whole line and spoon. About a two to three pound pressure on your spool, never permitting a slack line, will do the | trick. The redfish will come along | nicely for a while. hanging close to the bottom, but making run or lunge every 70 to 20 feet. When you get him 20 to 30 feet from the boat he usually canes up toward the sur face. A glimpse of the boat for the first time advises him what he's "up against" and then it's a five to ten minutes battle before he's sufficient ly "all in" to be lifted inside.
 Go in Small Schools
 In the bayous and quiet waters tributary to Choctohatchie bay around Camp Walton, fine catches of reddish, from three to ten pounds are frequently taken. They go In small schools, from half a dozen to 20, as a l t,L trolling back and forth over Q space of aIo0 yards before they become wise" and scatter or hurry away to l gether. One secret Is to cut down the speed of your motorboat as low as possible and put out from 150 to I 200 feet of line so the eommotion of the propeller will have disappeared ere your spoon eomeE along where the fish are. Another essential while trollipg is to keep your spoon dart ing, with the appearance of a min. now trying to escape danger This 1 effect Is produced by frequent quick l jerks of your rod.
 have never known whether the redfish and speekled trout of salt and semi-salt waters attack artifi- cial minnows and spoons while they are darting because of hunger or from pugnacious instinct. Both are | game fish which naturally go after a small moving object that resemb mbles 1 fleeing minnow. There is prob ably combination of the feedfn z and fighting purpose behind the aver age hard strike from reddish or | trout.
 l have found by experience that small green frogs make a fine trout bait. One of the most enticing lures TOY large speckled trout or reddish IS live mouse hooked through the Dack It proved a success in a bayou near Camp Walton. Tweezers were used on the mouses throat to hook him. Scarcely 30 feet was covered in his swimming on the surface before a five-pound trout went for him Nlth a terrific splash.
 Looked Like Quiet Day
 In Dan's bayou near Camp Walton last month on beautiful afternoon two of us had taken five reddish averaging four pounds. It seemed the DIE boys were not striking that l afternoon.
 We trolled slowly back and forth In water. some ten feet deep, near a l reed-lined shore. The water was quite clear; We could see the bot tom. There were no Instructions of Pany kind-only fine sand. The boat was moving scarcely two miles an hour; the engine had been cut down to the lowest possible point. Scarcely a quarter of mile distant was Choc- tohatchfe bay, smooth as a mirror Gulls were screaming and chatter ing on sand-bar as if holding a political pow-wow. A flock of ducks sputtered by within hundred feet; but we carried no gun. The sun was dropping like a great crimson ball into the gulf six miles across the bay A squirrel capered and parked in live-oak tree on the bayou shore. There was no other sound save the deliberate slow "chug chug" of the boat It was so peaceful. so beauti- ful. so fascinating, this silent com munion with nature, away off in the | isolated waters of a deserted world,
 Vicious Strike
 Then came a vicious strike that nearly 'yanked" my little casting rod from my hand There were three or four powerful lunges before could get on my feet for the fight that promised to be spirited Twice feared my ten-pound-test line and spoon were gone; but they stood the strain. l had out nearly two hundred feet During the entire route there was battle. I've never seen a fish or that size do so many and such sudden darts, lunges and plunges. The engine was cut off and the boat was drifting slowly toward the spoon from the constant pull l Nip and tuck we had it. My thumb was getting sore. I had no thumber. It took II minutes to bring that red fish within 25 feet of the boat His | first glimpse of us, as 1 worked him ! to the surface, was followed by a dozen or more slashes toward the bot tom. Two or three times he made 50-foot runs. He had power and pep"
 Well" said my companion, an ex- perienced native who had caught thousands of redfish trolling. casting and bait fishing, '"t kinder looks like you've got fish this time; guess you can handle him without any help, eh?"
 I assured him I could, though my left wrist was getting tired and my right thumb sensitive.
 1 For ten minutes more the fight continued. It was the strongest fish for it's size I ever caught. After bringing the beauty nearly 200 feet and holding him against 20 or 30 lungeA. l figured he was well hooked and would not get off unless the line broke from one of his hardest runs. When brought beside the boat the wish was well nigh ex- hausted, and flopped over on his side for a "second wind" like a foot I ball player. Then 1t was my com panion fjabbed his fingers under the | gills and threw the prize into the boat.
 Elements Of Real Sport
 That was enough for the after noon.t We started home full speed.