Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-08-07
Shooting n Muscalonge.
LErom the Worcester Spy.l

"There's more sport for me in lying in
wait on a runaway to get IA shot at mus
calonge than there is in standing on one
in expectation of putting u ball into
deer" said George Bonnet of the Rice
Lake Club.
"ro get "A shot at muscalonge ?"
eyes. Why, there's more excitement
in hunting the muscalonge with the rife
than there is in killing it in any other
way. There is for me, at any rate and
when you shoot muscalonge you can al
ways know that it will be Il big one, a big
ger one than you would catch on hook
if you tished for year. Then it requires
great skill and wariness to shoot one of
these fresh water monsters. They are as
crafty us the fox and u fierce as the wolf
| 1t also requires great patience, for the APP
pearance of your first victim may be de
layed for hours Last summer | was at
one fishing ground, Rice Lake, in Cana
da, and in three days had not succeeded
| in getting a shot at a single fish. IcaI1pht
II number of small ones, the largest being
II l5-pOunder, by trolling, but | was anx-
| ious to kill one of the immense fellows /
knew were in the lake. The way you
hunt Tor muScalOnge with the rifle is to
climb tree with branches extending over
| a deep part of the water, where you know
| that big fish natural lurk. ! built me a
| comfortable platform of boards in a tree
| situated in such spot, just as deer hunt
| ers who watch salt lickS from trees ar
| range for their comfort and convenience.
| The first season | occupied the tree |
| killed five big fish in three days One of
| them weighed fOrty-two pounds. Musical
| onge have Il habit of slowly coming to the
| surface of the water on sunny days, and
| lying there, as if they were taking a sun
bath. The shadow Of a bird flying over
| head, the swapping of Il 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 large fish come up to bask
| in the sun. Tmid and suspicious as they
| are, it is II singular fact that if you sue
coed 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 their at
| tention is all centered in their dead broth
err 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, sud
denly discover that there is something
wrong, and they dart away and are seen
no more.
Well. last summer, as | said. | hadn t
succeeded in getting a shot III three days
stay at the lake. The last day was there
| Climed to my platform III the tree and
hid among the branches to watch once
more for the appearance of some old-timeI
of the lake. | waited patiently for fOuI
hours, and never saw Il suspicion of one
took off my hat, and red label that
was pasted on the crown and had become
| lOOSencd, fell out and dropped on the
water 1t tloated out several feet, and
, was watching it in II listless way, when
l saw, three or four feet below the surface
: an immense muscalonge rising cautious
ly up toward the red label, He rost
: slowly, straight ahead and suddenly made
: one grand SWOOp at the label. | was ready
: for him when his great head shot out o
t the water, and | sent Il bail clear through
| 1t. He leaped clear out of the water ant
fell back, gave three or four cOnvulSiVt
l movements, and turned over dead. Be
: fore he was dead four other large musca
longe were swarming around him. | kill
. ed two of Them and the other two dlsap
A peared The big fish was nearly Il forty
: FOUNDER, and the other two weighed thir
t ty pounds apiece. The biggest muscalong
= | ever caught in the lake with hook wa
o IL twenty-five FOUNDER. | have gaffet
e them through the ice, though, that weigh
. ed thirty pounds.
e That is style of fishing that require
{, skill and nerve. You cut big square hol
e through the ice and build over it Il darl
e hut to keep the light out of the hole. Thi
81 enables you to see far down into the WA
r ter. Taking silver wire shell, three o
q four feet long, with a strong artificial
$ minnow on one end of it, you sink
d thrust your gatf down with you right
p The gatf you hold very still near the bait
e which you keep moving about in the WI
n ter. 1t wont be very long before you wi
lie see the shadowy form of big muscalong
lie away down below YOU. He sees the bal
e and is coming up to investigate it, II
L. gradually draws near, until you can st
Is savage eyes glitter, and discover his lon
sharp teeth between his half open jaw
S At that instant man who does not b
Il come excited and tremble like an aspel
Is has got nerve that not one out of ten, eve
to among old fishermen, has got. The hi
ct fish moves up slowly, sometimes pointin
to straight for the bait and then sliding t.
rs ward it, betrayng all the susDiciousne,
ne of his nature. He will come on, though
We until he has satisfied himself on the ma
W ter OF the strange object i'll the waite
of When he gets close to the bait and stol
sc and glares wildly at it the fisherman sinl
H. the strong gatf in his side, and, if he
re managed skllfully, Is sure to land him {
he the ice after Il struggle, in which the a
he vantage is all on the side of the tisho
NJ man.