Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-02-08
0he SIRE Dress.
THE LAKE In WINTER.
The Frozen Glories OfLakc Cham
plain.
Fishing Through the Ice-Beauties
of the Scenery,
Ihc Meteorological Phenomena of the
season

It is usually mid-winer before the water.
fowl are forced from the clear waters OF
Lake Champlain. This long lake is alter.
nalclY warmed and cooled by the winds
which aveep up and down its channel aud
It requires many weeks Of winter weather
to reduce its temperature to the freezing
point. The lake closes over in January
this season unusually carly, the 9th-and ii is
not before the last of April that the seal of
ice is broken.
A large body of water is interesting COM
pany at any season of the year. You
watch the phenomena 1t reveals with great
interest. lis a sure weather gauge. Transient
changes affect 1t only as they combine TO
work periodic revolution. When it freezes
the cold season is at its height, and when
clear again summer is nigh at hand Now
it has time of absolute rest, when all nature
is still, and we see the surro undng hills mir
rOrcd in It's CLASSY surface Then the winds
arise, ploughing the waters the flaws dart
over the dark surface, and squall steals
down from the mountains side, aud furious
lY lashcs the lake, cOmbing its waves into
spray. We note its perfect serenity through
the shortening days of the Indian summer,
then the vapOry weeks succeeding, when the
lake is 'steaming,' as they say, that is cooling
to the Temperature of the atmosphere. You
look out of your window of morning. aud
it appears as if somebody had built great
fire under it during the night, and this
mist brOods over the surface for half the day.
Sometimes the winds seize these floating
vapors, and whirl them along and upward
in eddying currents, forming fantastic fig
ures. One day in January when there was
considerable drift ice, the lake was surround
ed by gigantic forests of this white, thin
spun mist, some of the advancing figures
resembling tall towers or chimneys or large
waterspouts, constantly in motion and ever
assumingnew forms, fast driven by the wind.
Then there is the rcfraction Of those clear
December atmosphercs. Distant islands
rise to an unusual height, and the sailing
craft are seen projected on the mountains
side, The moisture in the air renders dis.
tant objects clear The wall of Green
Mountains to the cast, which often resembles
strip of blue paste board erected
against the sky, IS now visible in detail.
The ridges are silvcry-white, coated
completely with the snowy masses. This
disclOscs The contour of the lodges which
compose the crests and distinguishes them
plainly from the slopes, which acquire
crayish hue from the blending of the ever
greens. ! he mountain.sdcs are corrugated
like the skin of some animal, the snow
having revealed the folds in their cuticle.
n1W-bOund they are more plainly seen in
viturc partly of the greater light they send
US. The spurs and raviues and shadows
cast by adjacent ridges arc distinct. In their
white gowns the mountains appear TO best
advantage. and often their dazzling SUBMITS
seen hanging in mid-air through vista of
clouds seem TO be suspended at an unnatu-
raj height
The frozen beach forms good pavement
to walk on before the SHOWS have fallen -
An icy crust forms about the shore soon af-
ter Winter sets IN, and this is constantly
broken up and piled along the beach. a
barrier is thus formed for the waves to beat
against, which acquires a serrae or scallOpcd
appearance and gradually rises, resembling
row Of stalls or ice-sheds. A strip OF ice a
few rods in width forms along the edges in
the night, but this IS soon broken up by the
WIND and dashed back again 10 the shore.
When the bays and inlets have frozen hard,
the mist still rises from the open water,
showing that the cooling process continues,
and the new ice in the morning glistens with
its crop Of delicate ice-ioathers. As soon
as the bays freeze the krenchmen are
On Lhand with their fshlines, for
schools OF fish often come up under this new
ltIs HLI lIIC ClduCc IUI u SJOu CulCu Is Dtt-
ter Than when the whole lake is frozen.
They are after tie perch and smelt which
abound in these waters, and the sluggish
cusk or ling frequently takes the hook after
dark.
When the conditions are favorable, guam
titles of fish are taken, and sometimes, IN the
case Of the perch, twenty dozen Or more may
reward The patient fishermen for his day of
labor These are handsome fellows as they
come Tapping out of their element on to the
clean, white snow, displaying their bright
Olaugc fins aud yellow bOdles, deeply barred
with olive. Perch are indifferent enough
about taking the bail, but it requires con
Siderable skill to secure the willy
but never grab the hook in a bus.
iness like manner. So the reel or spindle
which holds the line must be held between
the thumb aud finger that the slightest I'M
pulse may be instantly felt and the fish a!
quickly hooked Then they rapidly bring W
the fifty feet of line as If their life instead o
q smelt depended on it, for he easily escapes
ii allowed any slack, These shapeIy little iisl
CLEAN with violet lrridcscence when draw
from the green depths below and their sill
very scales and delicate, almost Transporter
bodies give them most pleasing and palata
bic app, arrucc. Rarely one is caugh
half a pouad, but the majority are mucl
under, averaging six or seven inches.
The ling are quite common but not highl'
valued for food, though the livcrs are SAT-
to lie excellent. They belong to the cod. fisl
family and are found in most fresh wale
lakes In eastern United States, where the
have a variety of local names, such rs bul
hot, lake-lawyer, eel-pout, lake cusk, etc
A dark, shiny fish with "A blunt head an
nearly cylindrical body, with long fin run
ming down the back continuous with til
tail, sort OF cross between an eel an
horned p0ut. A large ore over two fee
long which had been out of the water SCI
elal hours, was still wiiggllng. 1t lies on i
belly like snake, and when it twists itsc
into tho form Of the letter 5 is more SUI
gestive OF lizard than any fish. The liu
makes little ado on being caught, but swa
lows the hook down in q morbid sort of wa,
and comes up like So much dead weigh
Its dark Shiny skin and general reptila
appearance tend to lower your estimate
the fish and convince you that its origin
home was the river StyX.
There is a constant battle on the LAX
between the ice and the wind, The wat
freezes and wind and wave shattcr the ic
1t is hard to Distinguish the first black ic
unless you can see out to the open water,
much docs this thin rigid film resemble Il
still surface. When the wind comes swt
ling up from the South, We see the clastici
Of ice to good advantage. At first it pa
takes OF the general undulation, but t
limit is soon reached aud the breakup cor
plctc. In an hour the beach IS lined with
long Tindrow of young ice the beautif
transparent plates resembling piles
broken glass. The water is sect
ins with these thin cakes, viii
erect themselves when crowded
gether, and often freeze in this po:itiu
presenting peculiar diagonal patterns.
1t is an unusually mild winter when
one crosses Lake Champlain on the ice. Il
when it once SEALS and cold weather 81
ceeds the layer increases rapidly. In I