dence and industry, without which none can reap the full advantage of
life.
On the top of yon miller's dam stands boldly erect the ardent fisher.
Up to the knees, and regardless of the danger of his situation, he prepares
his apparatus of destruction. A keen hook attached to his grass-line is
now hid within the body of a worm or grasshopper. With a knowing
eye he marks one after another every surge of the water below. Observing
the top of a rock scarcely covered, he sends his hook towards it with
gentleness and certainty ; the bait now floats and anon sinks; his reel
slowly lengthens the line, which is suddenly tightened, and he feels that
a fish is secured. Now whirls the reel again, thrice has the fish tried its
utmost strength and speed, but, soon panting and exhausted, it is seen
floating for a moment on the surface. Nothing now is required but to
bring it to hand, which done, the angler baits anew, and sends forth the
treacherous morsel. For an hour or more he continues the agreeable occupation,
drawing from the stream a fish at every short interval. To the
willow-twig fastened to his waist, a hundred " sunnies" are already attached.
Suddenly the sky is overcast, and the crafty fisher, although
aware that, with a different hook and bait, he might soon procure a fine
eel or two, carefully wades to the shore, and homeward leisurely plods
his way.
In this manner are the sun-fishes caught by the regular or " scientific"
anglers, and a beautiful sight it is to see the ease and grace with which
they allure the objects of their desire, whether in the open turbulence of
the waters, or under the low boughs of the overhanging trees, where, in
some deep hole, a swarm of the little creatures may be playing in fancied
security. Rarely does his tackle become entangled, whilst, with incomparable
dexterity, he draws one after another from the waters.
Thousands of individuals, however, there are, who, less curious in
their mode of fishing, often procure as many sunnies without allowing
them to play for a moment. Look at these boys! One stands on the
shore, while the others are on fallen trees that project over the stream.
Their rods, as you perceive, are merely shoots of the hazel or hickory,
their lines are simply twine, and their hooks none of the finest. One has
a calabash filled with worms and grubs of many sorts, kept alive in damp
earth, and another is supplied with a bottle containing half a gross of live
" hoppers;" the third has no bait at all, but borrows from his nearest
neighbour. Well, there they are, " three merry boys," whirling their
rods in the air to unrol their lines, on one of which, you observe, a cork
is fastened, while on another is a bit of light wood, and on the third a
grain or two of large shot, to draw it at once to a certain depth. Now
their hooks are baited, and all are ready. Each casts his line as he thinks
best, after he has probed the depth of the stream with his rod, to enable
him to place his buoy at the proper point. Bob, bob, goes the cork;
down it moves ; the bit of wood disappears; the leaded line tightens ; in
a moment up swing the sunnies, which, getting unhooked, are projected
far among the grass, where they struggle in vain, until death ends their
efforts. The hooks are now baited anew, and dropped into the water.
The fish is abundant, the weather propitious and delightful, for it is now
October, and so greedy have the sunnies become of grasshoppers and grubs,
that dozens at once dash at the same bait. The lads, believe me, have
now rare sport, and in an hour scarcely a fish remains in the hole. The
happy children have caught perhaps some hundreds of delicious " panfish,"
to feed their parents, and delight their little sisters. Surely their
pleasure is fully as great as that experienced by the scientific angler.
I have known instances when the waters of a dam having been let out,
for some reason better known to the miller than to myself, all the sun-fish
have betaken themselves to one or two deep holes, as if to avoid being
carried away from their favourite abode. There I have seen them in
such multitudes that one could catch as many as he pleased with a pinhook,
fastened to any sort of line, and baited with any sort of worm or
insect, or even with a piece of a newly caught fish. . Yet, and I am not
able to account for it, all of a sudden, without apparent cause, they would
cease to take, and no allurement whatever could entice them or the other
fishes in the pool to seize the hook.
During high freshets, this species of perch seldom bites at any thing,
but you may procure them with a cast-net or a seine, provided you are
well acquainted with the localities. On the contrary, when the waters
are low and clear, every secluded hole, every eddy under the lee of a
rock, every place sheltered by a raft of timber, will afford you amusement.
In some parts of the Southern States, the Negroes procure these
fishes late in the autumn in shallow ponds or bayous, by wading through
the water with caution, and placing at every few steps a wicker apparatus,
not unlike a small barrel, open at both ends. The moment the fishes
find themselves confined within the lower part of this, which is pressed to
the bottom of the stream, their skippings announce their capture, and the
fisher secures his booty.
VOL. III. D