Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-11-16

Method Employed by Unemployed I'LL
noiS Miners.

a Method Employed by Unemployed I'LL
nois Miners.
Catching fish with the aid of club is
something new under the sun. 1t is 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 ia l1es 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 a man can stand with a
bludgeon, and by rapping the shouts 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 a very great thickness, rarely
more than three inches, and when there
are no air holes sharp blow on the ice
Immediately above where a fish is rest
| ing seldom fails to stun the creature
and cause it to turn belly up. 1t can
then be taken out by chopping a hole
in the ice with Ratchet. 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 a party of miners. Each man
carried b asl1et, Ratchet and heavy
club with a 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, sunfish, and
now and then a bass 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
| -, " h. oh
| 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 a small hole with
your Ratchet and take out your fish.
| 1t is unsportsmanlile and ignoble, but
you get the ifs 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 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 spprtsmanlil1e or not. 1t
is means of procuring food, and it is
far less to be deprecated than the do
ings of some of Chicago's unemployed
| c1UlZenS VINO go Out TO WOTk armed WIN
a club.
The novelty of taking fish in this
manner is su1fic lent to tempt a man tC
try it once, at least, no matter how Sc
verely he may condemn the method
from a sportman's standpoint. The
writer, havin G a suspicion that fish SO
nearly suffocated as were those seen at
the air holes and under the ice might be
unfit for food succ eeded in catching a
few with an improvised landing net at
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 minute these
fish came to life and were as frislzy and
vigorous as any fish taken in June.
Cooked in three ways, fried, baked and
boiled, they tasted as fresh and good as
any fish, and the conclusion naturally
reached was that their qualities as an
article of food was in no wise impaired
by their confinement under the ice.
Men along the river state that many
thousand of poun dis Of these torpid fish
are taken every week, and much of its
catch finds it's way to the Chicago mar
| ket.-Chicago Herald.