Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-08-16
How Mackinac Trout are Caught.

First. the fisherman pretects~himseli
from the inclemencies of the weather
by drawing on over each other several
pairs of socks, the last heavy dutch
ones (duffie socks), after which the
pacs, thereby giving the wearer all
the appearance of suffering from
an incipient attack of elephantiasis
Next comes heavy double blanket
coat or Hundson's Bay capote, the
peaked hood of which is drawn loosely
over head and cap and tightly about
the face. The hands are now encased
in an enormous pair of wooden mittens
that cause them to assume like pro-
portfons with the neither eXtremities.
. Finally. the waist is tightly girded by a
Bright worsted scarf. in which is thrust
the handle of small AK, an ice-chisel
and knife. His tackle is a hook
nearly foot in length and from one
fourth to three-eights of an inch in
diameter, ruielv fashioned from steel
wire by some rural blacksmith, and
whose shank tranSfiNeS in its longest
diameter spndle-shaped sinker- of
lead two or three pounds in weight,
after which it is bent upon itself to
form a ring or &c, to which is securely
knotted a stout heavy cotton line the
thickness of o. $ little finger, three or
four i.;I! ed feet in length, and bear
inc marked esemblance to the good
wife's clotheS-line or an old-fashSioned
bed-cord-purposes which it was doubt
less originally intended to serve. 49, g.,
With AK and chisel hole is quickly
opened through the ice at some point
where the lake is deep and trout known
to be abundant; the hook is duly bated
with a strip of fat salt. pork (alyoung
herring. deg-fsh or rag of white cloth
answers hearly as welDI and; allowed to
sink 10 the depths below: Presently a
hungry trout espies, the lure, and is
movtM in the spirit of curiosity to in
Vestigate the why's land wherefores
thereof. and glides up to nose the oily
pork. This he finds to his satisfaction,
and with a sudden snap gulps it down
regardless of consequences, and with a
quick wag of his tail turns leisurely
away. But in the meantime his pres
ence has been telegraphed to the far
Their end of the circuit. followed by
sudden ..yank.' doubtless somewhat
Il tonishing to the internal arrangements
of his Namaycushine majesty, and be-
fore he can recover from his bewilder-
ment- suffi ientlyto COLLECT his spowers
the cruel barb is buried in his jaws or
gullet, and he finds himself rapidly as
cendingtto the outer. air. as the fisher
man. Wfh line thrown over his shoulder,
races away over the fee at the top of his
speed. reitherspausing or hating until
the gasping victim is landed high and
dry on the frozen field. Sometimes
erapple of several hooks is used, and
more than one fish is taken at a time,
but the modus operandi is essentially
the same. A similar operation carried
on from boat in summer is dignified by
the title of ..trolling;' but the act is one
that would cause the ''recreative and
contemplative" angler of scientific at
tainments a thrill of horror. Two men
working together with a scratching
apparatus" will sometimes kill and cure
rs high as eighteen barrels of trout per
week; but four barrels are considered a
very fair yield under all ordinary cir
cumStances.
Near the Charity Islands of Saginaw
Bav, Mackinac trout are Speared in Win
ter, much in the same way that sturgeon
are taken elsewhere. save that the fish
erman shelters his head and the OPEN
ing through the ice by means of tri-
angular box OF scoop framed like
an inverted V-some four feet wide at
its base by three feet high and two deep.
One side of the coop being open, light
is excluded by throwing a blanket over
the top, the folds of which are adroitly
adjusted to permit the free movement
of the spear handle. and at the same
time to cover the shoulders of the OPP
orator as he reclines at full length on
of CT Rx-
means the scanning of the bottom of
the bay is made possible. The spear in
this instance is provided with from three
to six prongs. something after the pat
tern of the implement commonly de-
picted in the sinister claw of his Plu-
ton majesty, and all save the two
outer tines are double-0arbed. The
shank is rightly riveted into the socket
of its handle. piece of ash eighteen
feet long while the upper or distai ex-
tremity Ofthe- latter is connected by a
cord,tO the peak or gable of the coop.
A take of sixty pounds of trout per ten
hours labor is here considered good
catch, since the fish average but about
eight or ten pounds each; and profita-
BILE market is found at Bay City at from
six to eight and ten cents per pound,
according to season and quality. This
fishing. too, is special winter industry.
participated in chiefly by the mill men
of the Saginaw Valley, who during the
season live upon the ice in small board
shanties mounted on runners, each one
a law to himself and the provider of his
own cuisine. Some, too, while engaged
in spearing, make use of live herring
as a lure, attaching it by n line
and hook Inserted through the
aeshy portion of the back to the roof OF
the coop, having first forced it to swal-
low a strip or bar of lead a quarter of