CAUGHT BY A FISH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9711, 5 January 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

CAUGHT BY A FISH.

When a person starts out to catch a fish it seldom happens that the fish catches him. Yet Jiiis was the case of Peter Willman, of Jamestown, N.Y. Chautauqua Lake, near that city, is noted the world over for its large and fine mascalonge, sometimes weighing as high as 50lb, and it was with one of these monster "lunge" that Mr. Willman had his experience. This is the story as told by an eye-witness Mr. Willman and Mr". Wilson, a friend of hia, went up the lake to troll for mascalonge. The day was fine, the waves were dancing in the noonday sun as these two frieuds stepped into their little trolling boats and rowed out on to the lake. They had fished for some time, and were some distance apart trolling over the weeds around a small island near the centre of the lake. Mr. Willman had his trolling line tied to his leg. On a sudden be felt- a mighty pull at the other end of the line, as if he had hooked a mule that pulled at the halter. He hung to the seat of the boat to keep from being pulled overboard. After a time the fish eased up, and Mr. Willman began to haul in line. The fish came along all light till he saw the boat, which seemed to excite him somewhat, and he suddenly made up his mind that he -would go the other way, which he did until he came to the end of the line, when he did not stop, but towed the boat around for a while. He soon tired of this, and Mr. Willman palled him up again and succeeded in hauling him into the boat. Then a tierce straggle took place. Some of the time Mr. r illman was on top, sometimes the fish. Both got excited, and capsized the boat. Here the advantage lay with the fish. He towed Willman away from the boat, and proceeded to do him up with the line. He swam round and round his body, passed between his legs, till he had laced him up like a shoe. In the meantime Willman had taken a death grip on one of his oars that was floating by. Wilson saw the struggle that was going on, and started to the rescue. When he arrived on the scene Willman was out of sight. He saw the handle of an oar come up, which he grasped and pulled up, and found Willman holding to the other end for life. His eyes were gab, and as he pulled him into the boat his head fell back, and to all appearances life was extinct. Wilson went to work to bring him to, which he succeeded in doing in a short time. He unwound the line from Willman's body and legs, and then turned his attention to the fish, which was out with about fifteen feet of line. He landed the fish, which was nearly exhausted by its efforts to drown Willman and regain his liberty. Only for the timely arrival of Wilson, Willman's name would have been McGinty. The fish weighed 38Jib. The above may read a little fishy, bub this scene actually happened on Chautauqua on September 12, 1894.