The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-01-09
DEcoYINC FISH ON LAKE ERIE,
Sitting in Little Stove-Heated Shanties,
Ready for All Sorts of Game.

The fishermen along the shore @
Lake Erie are already looking to thei
/ shanties preparatory to beginning de
coy fishing through the ice, saws a De
| troit correspondent of the n. Y. san
| As soon as the ice is strong enough t,
bear, the little fishing shanties will b.
moved out to the tishing-grounds, ant
IN favorite localities little villages o
miniature houses, with the smoke curl
ing up from their chimneys, will be es
tablished on the frozen lake. Th,
shanties are about four and half fee
high, so that man can sit comforta
bly, in them, and large enough to hold
the man and a small but effectiv,
stove.
A hole is cut in the ice. usually at the
side of some bank or edge of a chan
mel, where the fish are apt to be run.
nlng; then the house is moved over the
hole and the fire is started. The fish
erman sits on a seat, under which is 8
box in which to hide his fish, as it is
important to keep his good luck a
secret lest his neighbors surround him.
If the little village of lighthouses
moves close around him his chances
are gone, not only because the sur
rounding fishermen will intercept the
fish, but because the noise of chopping
and walking on the ice will certainly
drive them away, for. although you
can talk or sing as much as you please
IN the ilsh-house, the least tap upon
the ice will brighten away the fish
The house not only makes warm
shelter for the fisherman, where he
can sit comfortably protected from the
wild blasts that sweep over the frozen
lake, but, as it has no windows and the
light is shut out above, he can see
clearly eight or ten feet down into the
waters of the lake. 1t is really beauti-
full sight to watch the decoy darling
hither and thither, and the game steal
ing silently up to the hole or rushing
at it as if about to swallow it, tin fins
and all.
The decoy is made of wood, colored
to suit the fancy of the fishermen, and
not much like anything in nature. 1t
is three or four inches long and is
carved in the shape of fish and heavi-
~ weighted with lead toward the
head. 1t has four horizontal fins on
its sides and one fin on its back. To
one of a small row of rings on its back
one end of the string is hooked, and
the other end is attached to a stick
about foot long. With this stick the
fisherman plays the decoy, making it
dart about in the water as nearly as
possible in triangle. Sometimes a
school of perch will gather about the
hole, if they are large enough they are
speared, if too small for that they are
caught with hook and line. Or school
of herring take their place, and then
the fisherman substitutes for hook and
bait a white collar button on the end
of string, this the white fish swallow
eagerly, and the fisherman gently lifts
them out of the ice before they can dis
gorge.
Then there is swish, and ten
pound pike rushes in and scatters the
small fry in every direction. He stands
watching the decoy, which
the fisherman must play like lightning,
for If the pike touches it he discovers
and resents the deception, rushing
away faster than he came. At the first
the fisherman strikes his
spear into the fish's shoulder, or. if he
can't get fair stroke, and the water
is shallow enough, he pins him to the
bottom until he browns.
This is favorite sport in Michigan.
and is zealously pursued, sometimes |
SO late in the spring that the shanties
sail OF into the lake on the melting ice. |