, 1888-11-21
A A FIRE FISH STORY

OF Ine mouth OF flBeOl river. livery even
ing three of my friends and / sat around
the fire to smoke after supper pipes. When
the pipes were glowing the incidents of
the days hunting were lovingly dwelt
upon, and hunting and fishing stories
were told. One night when l had re-
turned to camp from the dark, clear
waters of Lake Superior without the
whales" that l had boastfuliy alleged l
would catch. one Of my comrades, whose
hair was white and whose form was
slightly bent with age, looked through
keen, black eyes at me, and then looked
beyond me at the past, and he smiled
pleasantly at scenes which he conjured up.
Frank" he said, you can handle a
double barreled shotgun fairly well for
one of your age, and you can catch black
bass and brook trout when they are hun
cry. But you do not possess knowledge
of a trout, nor do you know how to
catch them. I'll tell you a story, and
then l hope that you will realize that to
catch lake trout requires intelligence as
well as bait" and he added, rather saw
agely for so aged and usually good ma
tured a sportsman, land, my boy, bull
head luck don't count in lake trout fish
ing"
| knew that his insinuation about bull
head luck, whatever that may be, referred
TO a brace of Canada geese the bagging of
which by me involved the lots of a box of
Henry Clay cigars on his part, but l de
clined to come out of my blanket to enter
conversational deadfall that l knew had
been prepared for my destruction, so l let
the sighting remark pass unnoticed and
cvinced keen desire to hear the story and
to learn how to catch lake trout.
He said: "When l was q young man Che
IS over 7O) l spent a season in prospecting
for copper mines on the south shore of
Lake Superior. With me was a middle
aged Indian who had spent his life in
hunting and fishing and loafing in the for
ests and on the waters of the lake region.
He knew the wilderness thoroughly. He
knew where the deer and moose lived.
He knew in which lakes the wild water
fowl could be found, and he knew where
trout, pickerel and black bass lurked in
dark, cold water. He possessed all desir-
able knowledge relative to the region.
One night when we sat by the camp fire
the indian was in u laxative, confidential
mood. He said: In that lake. indicating
Lake Superior with a backward toss of his
head, are very large trout. About three
miles from here there is u reef in the lake
where the water is not over fifty feet
deep. The trout gather on this reef in
large numbers. They are always there,
but they will not take the hook ex-
cepting in certain seasons. If you
could catch one of these fish you would
never again eat q pickerel.' Then he told
OF catching trout on this reef that were
from 8 to 4 feet long and that must have
weighed from 20 to 80 pounds. OF course
| wanted to catch and eat one of these
fish. The next day he padded me to the
reef. | fshed for hours but caught moth
ing. The Indian apparently was not dis
appointed, but he resolutely asserted that
he knew that the reef was literally paved
with trout. That night as we sat talking
at the camp fire l thought out a plan by
which l hoped to catch some of the fish.
The next morning l sent to the settlements
for supplies, and in the list of articles
needed was q fish globe, and l wrote to
my agent to be sure to send me the globe.
In due time the globe arrived. l filled it
with water, caught a few minnows and
put them in it. Then l tied a piece of
cloth over it's neck, first pulling out one
half the threads so hat water could flow
in and out. l tied a short rope to the
shank of the globe, and a heavy fish line
round it's neck To the loose end of the
rope | tied a heavy stone for an anchor.
- put a short, dry log in the canoe and
was ready to set my bait. The Indian
watched my preparations with silent
scorn. Catch lake trout with a glass jarl
The scheme was too absurd to be worthy
of a warriors consideration The savage
had had a low opinion of me be-
fore. Evidently he looked on me as an
insane man who prowled through the
woods to dig in the ground, and this when
game animals and fish and birds awaited
him. But now 1 had lost all caste. He
reluctantly padded me and my childish
traps to the reef. He grunted. pig like,
when 1 spoke to him. Words were not
to be wasted on such as l. Arrived over
the reef l carefully lowered the stone
anchor and the minno charged jar, where
the stone struck bottom and pulled the
line taut and tied 1t to the little log which
l had thrown overheard, and which was
sufficiently buoyaDt to support the globe
that was suspended in the water about
four feet from the bottom. l believed
that the a k trout wonld see the min
nows, that they would try to catch them,
that their repeated failures would make
them r~avenous, that they would actually
rub their noses against the glass until
they became sore, and that, when 1 was
ready to fish, they would be keen to bite.
l laughed when Ihad the bait fixed to nv
satisfaction, and the Indian looked at me
through keen eyes, as though he thought
l had finally gone crazy.
81 did not visit the reef for two DAYS.
Then l said: Come, Henry, we will &c
and catch some trout took my lines
and q pail of minnows for bait, and bade
the Indian get the canoe ready. He re.
luctantly obeyed me. He wished he had
not told me about the reef. He limited
that he would have to go home shortly.
He was sullen and ungracious. Arrived
at the buoy, 1 baited a hook and dropped
the line. 1 felt the sinker strike the bot.
tom, and then 1 felt o mighty tug on the
line as the large fish grabbed the minnow.
The fish dashed for the deep water. The
Indian knew l had hooked u fish Just as
quickly as l did, and he thrust his paddle
in the water and We followed the fish SC
as to get eway from the buoy line. Then
/, l pulled the fish in No artistic playing
With an eight ounce rod, but just heavy
hand over hand pulling. That fish weighed
twenty pounds. The Indians eyes blazet
with excitement. He struck his oper
mouth with open palm to express his
establishment, and quickly padded me