The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-05-29
FISHING.
Battles With Muskallonge in Northwest
ern Lakes.
New York Sunl

! NOW the HuShuuOHSt, many
ravager of the inland seas, has stirred
from his long Winters idleDess and is
spreading death among the smaller fishes
/ Built for speed, with sharp nose anu
broad-hansed tail, from eye to tail-fork a
mass of muscle overlaid with delicious
flesh. with the appetite of tie wolf tna'
ranges the foodless snow, with cunning
and rapacity unbounded, witt slyness
patience and courage, he is one OF the most
formidable filmed things in the waters OF
| the earth.
The instinct to slaughter is the muskal-
| longe's marked characteristic, next Ger
tain bulldog tenacity and grit. When at
| ter a fight of half an hour this monster
exhausted is reeled in until n foot of his
| head projects above water and hangs there
| until the guide in the boat sends bullet
through it, the malign countenance bears
| strong resemblance to that of some BAT
| fled and hating beast of prey.
| There is futile anger in the glarlng eyes
and grinnng teeth, but no despair and no
fear. An instantaneous photograph of
a muskalonge so held is rare and worth
study.
The waters the muskallonge inhabits
are rife with fish flesh, and whereas he
| begins the Summer season poor and COM
parativey weak he soon regains his swift
ness and power. Before May has half
gone the pirate is as strong and bold as
| ever.
There is no possible computation of the
amount of food consumed by the great
fish during these days of its recrudescence,
| but it is something enormous. He feeds
| literally from daylight until dark, and for
| this reason is more readily hooked in the
cold days of Spring than at any other
| time. The fish is not so worth taking now
| as 10 days later, but is competent to make
| a heavy fight.
The 10000 lakes Of Minnesota and Wis
consin are the principal homes of the mus
kallonge-homes ideally suited to the fsh's
needs They are deep, clear and health
full and retired for the most part from
civilization.
The fact that comparatively few men
reach them is vital to the fish, which is
not found. Even under present conditions
its number have been materially decreased,
and the weights of those taken run much
less than they ran 10 years ago.
Then it was not unusual for individuals
of 80 and even 40 pounds to be captured,
but such a muskallOnge is rarity now:
Under present conditions a fish of 10
pounds is a good fish, one of 20 an excel
lent fish, one of % well worth taking
home on ice and mounting for the dining
room or hall.
1t is a singular thing about these lakes
that only those connected with the Mis-
sissipp River contain the muskallonge.
They are springfield and there is little diff
ference in their waters or in the food con-
tanned in them. Connection with the big
river, however, inSureS the presence of
muskallonge and its absence means not
only that the muskallOnge is not to be
found, but that it will not live if trans
planted.
The connection of some Of the lakes
with the river is so slight that the manner
in which the big fish make their way to
There is in Price County, Wis, for in
stance. Il lake called Round Lake.
1t is joined to Mason Lake by creek
or ditch, not more than three feet wide,
hot more than II foot deep and grown up
with weeds and water grasses. This
ditch is so narrow and shallow that guides
in going from one lake to the other are
often obliged to portage light boat, finG-
ing it impossible to force way through.
Yet Round Lake is well supplied with
muskallonge. since it connects with Mason
Lake, which connects in turn by an arm
almost as narrow and shallow with the
Flanbeau River, which connects with the
Chippewa, which connects with the Mis-
sissippi.
The fish find their way up the small
stream into these lakes and through the
narrow tortuous half arms, though
there does not seem to be water enough in
them for fve-pOund muskallOnge to wig
gle in.
On the contrary Long Lake, which lies
a half-mile from Round Lake and is NOT
with any outside body Of water,
has DO muskallonge, though it is two miles
long by three-quarters of a mile wide and
40 feet deep in the center. Its water and
lilies and weeds and wild rice are the |
same as those of Round lake. but the |
will not live in them.
1t seems to be necessary to this fish to
get to the running streams once year. |
1t lives in the lakes for the greater part |
though not always, but it needs the
change.
The lake of the Minnesota or Wiscon- |
sin woods is ideal fishing water. There
the angler has all of those things which
his soul loves-cool, pure air, solitude, a
hundred sights and sounds Of primeyal
nature and good sport.
For the most part the banks Of these
lakes are bluff rising from 40 to 60 feet
lbove the water, and the pines, balsam
pines, naples, hemlocks, frs and spruces
grow down to the waters lip. They are
,yergreens, all dark and massive, so thick
n places that small birds work their way
through the branches. The wa
er is still, clear and blue, and the result
ire dark green and dark blue in juxtaposi-
ion, exceeding pleasing and restful to the
,ye.
In the center of one of these lakes far
beyond ordinary gunshot swim a pair of
hose vOracious feeders, the looms. In
many places along the edges lie a tangle
If dead fallen trees and on these turtles
,ask.
Tottering along one of them, digging
n it's claws painfully and obliviOus of the
,oat and its occupants though only 70 feet
way, comes pOrcupine for its daily
rink. The porcupine can think of but one
hing at time.
Five hundred feet up a fishhawk sails
lOwly round and round. From the woods :
ONES the drum of the partridge. In one |
orner of the lake, protected well by a
of logs, mother teal swims
With brood of seven, or takes them up '
he bank where it is shelving and grass
,rown to look for grasshoppers. s
Around this body of water Il man may /;
ind by looking the Summer homes Of ;
many of the game birds which fly south
ward when the first snow comes out Of
he north. The jacksnipe's nest may be !
discovered built in tall grass, or the NAL ,
ards near to the lake, but dry and apt 5
o be in the center of some dead branch. ;
bucks of all kinds breed there, but the
Dose nests farther north.
A man tired of trolling may drift with +
lis guide in the boat under the shadow
f the trees and see many strange and
uriOus things. Generally, however, men ,
rho go to these lakes in Spring, Summer r
al vN,II