“When I went to Reelfoot,” says Mr. Paddock, “I had never heard of a spoon-bill catfish, and when I saw in the boat more than two tons of these slippery monsters of the deep, _with paddles on the ends of their noses more than two feet long_, I had to pinch myself to see if I was awake. “If I have laid myself open to criticism when I told about those three big black bass, I am going to now ‘bust’ my reputation for veracity wide open――beyond all repair――for, by actual weight on the scales at our dock, one-third of those fish averaged seventy pounds apiece, and the smallest would weigh fifteen pounds. “If you have never been to Reelfoot, and doubt this statement, take a trip down there, my brother. They are taking out these whoppers just the same to-day. They dress them and take them to the dock, where they get one cent a pound for them. They are the strangest of all fish; they have no scales or bones, except a gristly spinal column. They have a long, slender, symmetrical, and graceful body, and their upper jaws project away ahead, so that at least one-third of their entire length is nose, which widens and flattens out into a graceful paddle. Most likely they use it as a shovel; I never had a chance to see one of them feeding. They live in deep water, but I imagine that they shovel around in the mud for worms.” The garfish of Reelfoot Lake are of varying size, with long bills and sharp, interlocking teeth. Some of them weigh ten to fifteen pounds, and are formidable specimens. It is likely that after seeing what the water afforded, Davy preferred to take his chances with the bears. The fish taken in cold weather often are dried for winter use, and sometimes smoked, affording a valuable supply of food. The lake is frequently covered with wild ducks and geese, and water-turkeys or cormorants act as scavengers. In Davy’s time it was too expensive to kill water-fowl. His object in going to Reelfoot was to get meat for his friend, who was helping in the building of the boats. Davy had already killed and salted down enough for his own family, and as he seems to have loved bear-hunting more than any other sport, he readily took the trip to the lake, where the first day or two was spent in fishing.