The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-05-21
FISHING WITH A CLUB.
A Method Employed by Unemployed II
nois Miners.


A Method Employed by Unemployed nIi.
nois Miners.
Catching fish with the aid of club Is
something new under the sun. 1t il an
inexpensive method to say the least,
and as the writer saw it practiced re.
Gently in some of the shallow lakes that
skirt the Illinois river south of this
place, it is quite successful. There are
great many of these small lakes along
either side of the Illinois river. and as
they are fed by springs fish seek their
fresh waters in countless numbers.
When the weather is very cold and the
surface of the shallow bodies of water
freezes over entirely the millions of fish
soon exhaust the oxygen or hydrogen
or Holland gin or whatever property it
is that the water ta kes from the atmos-
phere, and then they seek the surface
for "air." Coming to the top they bump
their foreheads aga inst the ice and swim
sluggishly about, apparently seeking an
'air hole" Should they find such a
place, which they do occasionally, they
stick their noses partly out of the water
and seem to gasp for breath for all the
world like person coming out of fit
of suffocation. Where one of these "air
holes" is found Il man can stand with q
bludgeon, and by rapping the snouts as
they appear above the surface capture
as many fish as he cares to carry away
The spring water of the lakes does not
freeze to u very great thickness, rarely
more than three inches, and when there
are no air holes sharp blow on the ice
ir1nf, 1o1i atn1rr oh f,e1. So,
| ing seldom fails to stun the creature
and cause it to turn belly up. 1t can
then be taken out by chopping hole
in the ice with hatchet. The ice is
very clear and the fish can be seen
through it almost as plainly as through
a pane of glass.
The Herald correspondent accom-
panied party of miners. Each man
carried a basket, hatchet and heavy
club with knot ON the end of it. On
reaching the first lake the ice was
| found to be about two inches thick and
the water under it from two to four feet
deep. Air holes were very scarce, but
down in the clear water hundreds of
catfish, buffalo. suckers, sunfsh, and
now and ther pass or wall-eyed pike
could be seen, almost motionless, with
his nose pressed close up against the ice
as though try ing to extract from it the
| life-giving elixir that the water no
| longer afforded. Every man went at
once to work, and in two hours all the
baskets were filled with fish. 1t is a
method of fishing that requires no skill,
no caution and no knowledge of fish ma
ture. You simply walk about looking
down into the water, locate the fish you
want, hit the ice directly above him as
hard blow with the big end of your
club as you can, chop small hole with
your hatchet and take out your fish.
1t is unsportsmanlille and ignoble, but
you get the fs h, and the fish will sell,
and that is what most of those who en-.
gage in this method of fishing care
about principally. When a man out OF
employment can take club and go out
and knock over something that he can
sell and yet not be violating any of the
statutes he isn't likely to care much
whether it is sportsmanlike or not. II
is a means of procuring food, and it is
far less to be deprecated than the do
ings of some of Chicago's unemployed
citizens who go out to work armed with
a club.
The novelty of taking fish in this
manner is sufficient to tempt man tc
try it once, at least, no matter how Sc
verely he may condemn the method
from a sportman's standpoint. The
writer, having suspicion that fish sc
nearly suffocated as were those seen al
the air holes and under the ice might be
unfit for food, succ eeded in catching q
few with an improvised landing net al
one of the air holes, and tried the ex
pertinent of placing them in a tub Of
water freshened by dipping and pour
ing. In less than half a minute these
fish came to life and were as frisly anG
vigorous as any fish taken in June
Cooked in three ways, fried, baked and
boiled, they tasted as fresh and good a:
any fish, and the conclusion naturally
reached was that their qualities as al
article of food was in no wise impaired
by their confinement under the ice.
Men along the river state that many
thousand of pound DIS of these torpid fish
are taken every week, and much of it:
catch finds its way to the Chicago mar
ket.-Chicago Herald.