The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-10-26
SHOOTING THE MuscALoNeE.
Novel Sport That a New York Fisherman
Says Is Far Ahead of Trolling.
ca,

Novel sport That New York Fisherman
Says Is Far Ahead of Trolling.
New York SUM-
"Theres more sport for me in lying in
wait on runway to get shot at mus
calonge than there is in standing on one
L. expectation of putting a ball into
deer, said George Bonnet, of the Rice
Lake club.
ITO get a shot at muscalonge?"
YES. Why, there's more excitement
In hunting the muscalonge with the rifle
than there is in killing it in any other
way. There is for me, at any rate, ard
when you shoot q muscalOnge you can
always know that it will be big one-a
bigger one than you would catch on a
hook if you ished for a 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. 1t 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 alta single fish. l
caught q number of small ones, the larg-
est being a fifteen FOUNDER, by trolling,
but | was anxious to kill one of the inn
mense fellows / knew were in the lake.
The way you hunt for musca,onge with
the rifle is to climb q tree with branches
extending over deep part of the water,
where you know that big fish naturally
Turk l built NE q comfortable platform
of boards in a tree situated i'll such a spot,
just as deer hui tiers who watch salticks
from trees arran re for their comfort and
convenience.
"The first season l occupied the tree l
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
a 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 fish come up to bask in
the sun. Timid and suspicious as they
are. 1t is a 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 conferred in 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
hO lnOAO.
"The biggest muscalonge / ever caught
IN the lake with the hook was twenty
five-p FOUNDER. have gated them through
the ice, though, that weighed thirty
pounds. That is a style of fish that re-
quires skill and nerve. You cut 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 a silver wire smell three
or four feet long, with strong artificial
minnow on one end of it, you sink it
through the hole with your left hand, and
thrust your gaff down with your right
The gaff you hold very STILL near the
BAH 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 1t.
He gradually draws near, until you can
see his savage eyes glitter, and discover
his long. sharp teeth between his half
open laws At that instant a man who
does not become excited and trembled like
an aspen has got a nerve that not one out
of ten. even among old fishermen, has
got The big fish 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 at
il the fisherman sinks the strong gait In
his side, and, if it is managed skillfully,
Is sure to land him on the ice after a
struggle. in which the advantage is all on
the side of the fisherman.