The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1885-10-28
aHooTINo - MusoALoNoE.
Uovoi Sport THAT q New York Fiahormnn
saya Ia FER Ahead of Trolling.
UJrry wort guu

Uovoi Sport THAT q New York Fiahormnn
saya Ia War Ahead of Trolling.
New York SUM-
There's more sport for me In lying In
walt on a runway 10 get shot at O mus
onlonge than there is in standing on one
In expectation of putting q bali into a
deer, said George Bonnet, Of the Rice
Lake club
"To get O shotat o muscolonge2"
"Yea Why, there's more excitement
I'm hunting the muscalonge with the rifle
than there Is in killing II In any other
way There Is for me, at any rate and
when you shoot a muscalonge you can
always know that it will be a big one-a
bigger one than you would catch on a
hook II you fished for q year Then it
requires great skill and Wariness TO shoot
one Of these freshwater monsters They
are as crafty as the fox and as fierce as
the wolf II also requires great patience,
for the appearance Of your first victim
may be delayed for hours Last summer
was at one fishing grOund-Rice lake. In
Canada-and IN three days had not sue.
ceeded In getting a shot at a single fish. !
caught a number of small ones, the larg-
est being fifteen. FOUNDER, by trolling.
but l was anxious to kill one Of the i'm
menso fellows l knew were in the Lake
The way you hunt for muscalonge with
the rifle Is to climb tree with branches
extending over q deep part Of the water,
where you know that big fish naturally
lurk. ] built me a comfortable platform
of boards In a tree situated in such a spot,
lust as deer hunters who watch saltiiCks
from trees arrange for their comfort and
convenience.
"The first season I occupied tho tree I
killed five big fish in three days One of
them weighed forty.two pounds Mus
calonge have a habit Of slowly coming to
the surface Of the water on sunny days,
aud lying there, as if they were
taking a sun bath. The shadow of
bird flying overhead the snap
ping of a twig or any sight or sound no
matter how Insignificant will send
them TO the depths again in the tWinkling
of an eye, and if they reappear again it
will be after hours have passed Only
the very largest tish come up TO bask in
the sun. 1imid and suspicious as they
are, II is a singular fact that If you sue
ceed In shooting one It will instantly be
surrounded by Others which dart TO the
surface and snap and tear at the dead fish
with their alligator jaws. While thei at
tention is all Centered I'm their dead
brother an active and skillful hunter may
stretch the bodies of two or three others
on the water, BY that time however,
the others, If there are any others left,
suddenly discover that there is something
wrong, and they dart away and are seen
no more,
The biggest musCalOnge / ever caught
in the lake with the hook was a twenty
five-pounder have GATED them through
the Ice though, that weighed thirty
pounds. That is q style of fish that re.
quires skill and nerve. You cut a big
square hole in the ice and build over it a
dark hut to keep the light out of the hole
This enables you to see far down in the
water. Taking silver wire smell three
or four feet long with a strong artificial
minnOW on one end of it, you sink it
through the hole with your left hand, and
thrust your gaif down with your right
The gatf you hold very still, near the
bait which you keep moving about In the
water. 1t won't be long before you will
see the shadowy form of a big musCalonge
away down below you. He sees the
bait and is coming up to investigate It,
He gradually draws near, until you can
see his savage eyes glitter and discover
his long, sharp teeth between his half
open Jaws At that instant a man who
does not become excited and trembled like
an aspen has got nerve that not one out
OF ten, even among old fishermen, has
got Inc Dlg usn moves on slowly, some
times pointed straight for the bait, and
then siding up to It, betraying all the
suspiciousness of his nature He will
come on, though, until he has satisfied
himself on the matter of the strange
| object in the water. When he gets close
TO the bait and stops and glares wildly al
it the fisherman sinks the strong gatf in
his side, and if it is managed skillfully,
| Is sure to land him on the ice after q
struggle, in which the advantage is all on
| the side Of the fisherman