The sign on the house, viewable from the Little Kanawha River, reads Kanawha Valley Fishing Club. In the late 1800s there were several such “escapes” along the river between Parkersburg and Elizabeth. (Photo Provided)

THAT FISHNIC

Editor Fish Department:

Ralph Covert, Rev. A.D. Carlile and E.F. Reifsnyder, three very acute anglers, left this city last Monday afternoon on a fishing excursion up the beautiful Kanawha. They pitched their tents at an ancient village named Leachtown, on the right bank. There they spent two days with good sport. They wish it to be known that anyone going there should take their minnows with them, as they had to go three miles up Negro Run to get them. The minnows should be large as will hereafter be shown, as they fished entirely at the falls of Minnow ha ha!

Reifsnyder returned to town first, staying only a half day. The other two, having more nerve, remained longer, and were well paid for their stay. They proved to be good fishermen for they astonished the natives around there and occasionally one of the natives would say, “Yer can’t ketch nuthin’ thar,” when suddenly they would bring forth a beautiful black or rock bass. In their stay there they succeeded in catching forty-eight bass. But the Reverend gentleman deviated from the regular path as will be shown from the following.

They only got one cat fish. It was a Channel Cat, and it was game. The Reverend hollered for Ralph to come. He got hold of the pole. They had to lay the pole down and pull it in “hand over hand.” They got a dip net and got it out. It was a terror! They concluded to quit on that. It was their last fish. Ralph was jealous, but he went to cleaning it. My! How fat it was! It was 49 inches long. He took a cleaver and cut it down the back. He struck something else. Inside the Catfish was a Red Horse [a suckerfish], 37 ¼ inches long. He exclaimed “My Kingdom for a horse.” Inside the Red Horse was a Perch. He carved the Perch. In it was a black bass 23 inches long. This was a beautiful fish. He thought this was all, but gracious! There was a Salmon inside the Bass, 11 inches long. Surely there was nothing in this, but there was. On carving it there proved to be a Moon fish at full moon. The dear little creature was fat — too utterly fat. He hated to cut it up. It was the only one alive. It seemed to be full of itself. But he cut it. It was a wonderfully constructed fish. He extracted therefrom – with hard pulling – a small bunch of cotton, but when it was pulled out, it sprung like a sponge and was as hard as a hat. On pulling it apart he found two paper writings: one of them was the “ordinance of the Mayor of Parkersburg in relation to Water Works,” and the other was the late “Reassessment Order of the Governor,” and the little paper that fell out of these had a question on it, but the ink was very much faded. It was thus: “Will you fishermen tell me whether or not the City Council of Parkersburg will give the Parkersburg Gas Co. notice by June 8th 1884, that said city intends to run the gas works hereafter?”

The Parkersburg Daily State Journal,

May 23, 1884

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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.