The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-06-28

lfuSLy byDtNLAtef An Hdhu anu
pound out some seemingly harm
less local story?
Durin' the late legislative ses-
sion l was too busy ploughin'
thru a lot of political war news
to pay very mitch attention TO the
local items in state papers. but
last week, with the legislature out
of the way, I draped my hind legs
over the corner of the desk and
began nosin' thru the weekly pa
pers real careful to see what
could find.
Everything was Alright until ]
picked Up a copy of the Moore
Haven democrat an began read
in a couple of columns of hair
Ia;sin' narratives about a riot that
vas 90 n on in Lake Okeechobee
between the fish and the fisher
men that made the Spanish War
and the steel strike look like .
Peace Conference.
Accordin' to Editor Curr Settle,
guy just naturally took his life
in his hands xhea he ventared oui
on TIE lake With ligatcastin'
rod and : wooden minnow. The
bass out there, he said, would
lip tteir tails and swamp the boat.
They sn-sLed var tackle then
played Iear-frog over the lilS
pads and gave you the grand rasp-
berry.
No5oG but a sissy kept any
fish that weighed less than ten
pounds and they were considerin'
equippin' their boats with traiIers
in order to bring back the days
catch.
Well, l pisled up a couple more
papers anu tried to read 'em, hut
it was no rsc. / just had to quit
and 60 hone and pSek my fish;n'
tackle in TIE CIR, get out my old
clothes, bid the family a fond
farewell and head in the general
direction of Moore Haven.
/ stopped in LaEelle where
found KIT Bewden bumped over
linotype ...-ind'n' out another
mess of vicious fish tales for
readers o ire Hendry County
News, and he swore tae stories
we're all tire only the half hadn't
been toldi
Red Edserton of the Western
Newspaper Union Kew into town
ABOUT the same time | did and
Mr.. Settle arranged a fishin'
trim for us. sending his best limo
type operator, Pope, along to act
as host and turned us over to the
best guide on TIE lake-a fellow
named Mse, who certainly knew
his stuff.
We all piled in the car and
started out to Jones Fishin' Camp
where you get boats, kickers and
block and tackle if necessary. On
the way oEt there was flock Of
bleery-eyed woods cows maintain
in picket line on the highway.
I tried to sneak around 'em but
managed to collect enough heifer
to put out one light and crumple
iup a fender. -
Well. Jones turned out to be 3
regular guy. He had a bunch of
nice clean boats and smooth run
MIN kiekers. 1t looked like pretty
good fishin' ground to me, right
around the camp. but Mac said
there wasn't nothin' but little
ones there-jrst six and eight
pounders-and we'd better go
down the lake a piece to Hook.
er's Point and around the mouth
of the creek.
I He scid there wasn't any hurry
about gettin' started because the
moon wouldn't be south for a
couple of hours And I'm here
to tell you that guy knew his
horoscopes. or astrology, or what
ever they call the science-for the
cockeyed fish never paid us a bit
of mind until along about three
o'clock wnen the moon got in prop
OF position.
Then hell just naturally broke
loose l never saw anything like
it tossed my minnow in a mess
OF lily pads and for a minute
thought I'd hit a mine or some
thin 1t seemed like the bottom
of the lake exploded under it. Ny
reel started spinnin' like an air
plane propeller and knocked all
the bark off my knuckls.
amt gonna tell you how
much he weighed or how big he
was-you wouldn't believe it and
besides, he got away. Anyhow,
in a couple of hours, with three
guys catehin' 'em and two throw.
in' 'em back, we were still knee
deep in fish and it looked like
we'd swamp the boat.
Now don't tell me YOU know