Egbert Wilson

“ The above-mentioned ledge of rock forms the roof of a cave-like aperture some eighteen inches high by three or four feet wide, into whose dark recesses the eye cannot penetrate, the bottom sloping away in a northwesterly direction under the hill which sustains the old oak. Schools of minnows frequent the shallow part, and hide in the water-grass; stir this grass with a cane or stick, and occasionally you may frighten out a small bream or sunfish, but very few fish of any sort are seen in the shallow basin, and these few refuse the most tempting bait. ”

“ The largest fish will not take the hook, on account of the exposure to view; but the smaller bream, perch, and bass, bite with great eagerness, and I have often caught from twenty to sixty in an afternoon, selecting the best fish by sight, and placing the bait at their very mouths. Sometimes the basin is almost empty of fish; an hour afterward enough will be visible to overstock a dozen ponds of equal size. By day eels are rarely visible, and you may stir up all the patches of grass along the bed without discovering one ”

“ The bottom descends like a huge funnel, but on one side there is a projecting ledge of rock, under which, sloping downward in a direction away from the upper basin, is a hole seemingly about a foot in diameter. Out of this hole bass and pike of the largest size are seen to emerge, while the upper basin is filled with small bream and sunfish, biting readily at angle-worms, and occasionally a large red-bellied perch, a species rarely seen in the basin, will dart from under the rock-ledge and seize the bait. ”