OCR Text |
Show DO FISHES FEEL PAiN. A Fl.herman Bell.,., That Th.y An Sensible to rln. A writ. in Forest and Stream says-1 have road many articles on the subject hook Si' ' Whm 7 Pm 0r whethw their straggles were merely the result of find-g find-g themselves fast. I fish a great deal and pickerel and have done so for rears. h Btudlel the matter very carefully and have made up my mind from various vari-ous incidents that have come under inv observation that fish are not sensitive to Pain as are warm blooded animals. I will cite two instances that show to me plainly that I must be right in my conclusions con-clusions on this subject. Last October, while fishing for pickerel on Lake Cary, Wyoming county, Pa., in company witha companion, amongother j fi8h that caught was a pickerel that I woul(J wei8h nearly, if not quite, three ' pounds. My friend pulled it up, and as it came on to the top I saw about twelve feet of a very coarse brown line hanging to it. Upon inspecting it more closely 1 ; found that the fish had in its side a very strong and coarse hook, to which the piece of line was attached. The wound must have been made a very short time previous to our catching the fish, for it was bleeding quite freely, and looked very fresh, and if the fish could feel pain , it would certainly have deterred it from i taking our hook so soon after such an in-1 in-1 jury. There was only one other partv ; fishing on the lake that day. as it was ' cold and windy, and that pickerel must have received his injury f rouvthem and have come nearly across the lake to us, : dragging that pioce of heavy Hue with him. The other instance occurred in this way : I was fishing with a ' 'skipping bait" most of your readers know what this is: a piece of pork riud or a pickerel belly r.nd had with me a friend who, though he could bundle a brigade under a heavy fire, was not tip to the trick of catching iish that way. I was having fairly good sport, but he got impatient, and finally, when ha had a good strike, ho jerked so hard as to break his line, and away went the fish, and ho at once proposed to go home, but I told him in joke if he would wait five or ten minutes I would catch that fish and get back his hook. So we sat down and had a short smoke. I soon commenced to cast my hook near where he lost his fish. I had a strike, and to our mutual surprise out came the gen eral's fish, with his hook well fastened in its mouth. Now, I don't think the fish would have taken the bait so soon again had it been in any pain from the hoolt |