The Washington times., 1924-03-22

mediately on their arrival the
acquainted with their hooks.
It was not long before they had
| to their credit fourteen fish that
ranged from one to fifteen pounds.
| But, as I have said before, they
were out after a record and would
not be content until they had &C.
complished their purpose.
The fifteenth and last fish of
the day, for the anglers quit on
the spot. fell the victim of Spar
rows hook and weighed twenty.
two pounds.
Now, Max has been accused of
stealing" the fish simply because
he happened to hook the big fel
low in the tail, but in truth,
should say he used good judgment
in not letting him get away.
Sparrow's own story Of the
unique way in which he caught
the monster follows: "There was
q terrific pull ON my line and I
set my hook, but the fish broke
loose. let out about four feet
of line and gave a short jerk,
thinking possibly that / could
attract his attention to the lure.
Immediately the line began tU
leave the reel at a high rate Of
speed and / realized that there
was q battle on my hands. After
about ten minutes fight the
giant cat made his appearance on
the surface all i'm from his en-
counter and much to my surprise
had him hooked in the tall"
According to Max, the hook was
embodied in the cats tail about an
inch and he was compelled to cut
it out with knife.
Just as to what branch Of the
catfish family the big fellow be-
longs has started a good deal OF
discussion in fishing circles. Some
say it is Mississippi, while others
declare it to be blue channel cat
B. A. Bean, of the Bureau OF
Fisheries, was asked to pass judg
ment on the fish and stated that
it belonged to the Mississippi tribe
He also said that the Mississippi
cats were divided into three sep
arate and distinct classes.
DIR. Kenneth Mccullough, Of
WaycrOss, Ga. writes telling us
of how. big fish eat little fish
down Georgia way.
Judge Gordon Crawford and DR.
d. w. Freeman both Vouch for one
or the seasons remarkable fish
stories. each more or less partici
pating.
A few days ago they DECIDED tc
spend a few hours In the after
noon at Browns pond on the West
estate. DIR. Thomas hung what was
evidently big trout which finally
broke his line. In q short while
Judge Crawford had a strike and a
big fellow" played and tugged un
til his line was broken. Both an
glers worked for an hour or more
in glum silence without a. strike
when Judge Crawford saw a small
trout jump over his cork, and al
most instantly there was a strike
and the angler thought 1t was the
small trout. For some time Judge
Cranford's skill as an angler was
taxed while the trout played for g
chance to break the line, but finally
the fish was landed-a fine fellow
which weighed ten and a quarter
pounds.
Later DR.. Freeman caught one
much smaller and Judge Crawford
who had hung his big trout up OIL
a limb, placed the smaller fish
across the mouth of the big one
while the fishermen continued Their
sport. Finally when they started
to leave the pond there was only
one fish-the smaller one having
disappeared and there was moi
even q sign to show that it had
fallen on the ground. When the
big trout was removed from the
limb it was then discovered that
it had swallowed the little trout and
there was just enough of the small
fishs tail showing in the trout's
big throat to prove just what haC
transpired.
Dear Angler: In looking over
the papers today / note one Of
the most OutlandiSh pieces of fish
ing news 1 have ever read.
The author, according to his owr
version, spent all Of last season
studying our noble black bass, but
evidently has a lot to learn. Some
of the things enumerated therein
are Just a trifle too strong FOL
yours truly TO let go by without
comment.
That the writer of this expert