Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1902-09-12
LAWLESS FISHERMEN
Use Jack-Light, Gun and Spear on
the Upper Mississippi.
Immense Catches Are Made by ths
Freebooters when the sandbars
Are Submerged - Methods
and Apparatus.

out on the fats of the upper Aissis-
sippi river after dark the men VINO 40
NOT care for rod and line fishing, or
whose business pursuits keep them
close during the day, are having run
with gigs or fish-spears ana guns. IL
/, sport which is against the law,
and therefore pursued the more zeaI-
ously. says an exchange OF that sec
ton,
For the deputy game warden, VINO ID
these days of protected American
areas occupies toward the common
citizen the position Of the En3iish
keeper toward the poacher, there Is no
love lost. Almost any one OF the river
dpellers would go some distance out
OF his way to disoblige warden, ana
10 fool one is well worth while.
People who spear or shoot fish after
dark are easily enough detected. They
carry brazier filed with burning
wood in the bow of the boat, and the
liaht of IL can be seen for miles. The
trouble is that there Is only one
warden for every 500 of population.
Tie gig or spear Is tbree-pronged
instruments heavy and strong, with
harbs at the end Of each prong. 1t is
attached to light long pole and either
thrown or thrust at the fish
IRE gun used is snooth-bored
musket of large caliber. The projectiic
Is OF steel and shaped like an arrow
head ant II has barb upon each side or
Ats point To the base Of this some 30
feet OF light strong wire is attached.
A light charge of powder is put into
the gun. heavily wadded, and the ar
rowhead dropped on top of II. The
other end Of the wire is attached TO the
front part of the triggerguarc and lies
loosely in the bow Of the boat. The af-
fair is much upon the principle Of the
gun sometimes used by whalcrs.
The fish taken upon the submerged
fand-bars are OF many kinds-huffa-
Ices, catfish dogfsh, drums, riekerel
and the fish known locally as sand
pickercl, which is really Il muskal-
longe. These fish are not only in the
shadows in great numbers after dark,
but they come in crowds attracted by
the light.
their backs almost touching for 20
yards all around the boat. Under
these circumstances the shooter or
spearer suffers from an embarrass-
ment of riches He occupies himself in
picking out the biggest and latest fish.
ms well as those of the best varieties as
targets.
He will not shoot dogfsh excent by
mistake. as no one has ever found the
dogfsh to be good for anything. Bass
and pickerel are the fayorite marks,
though a blue catfish, the kind known
Ps channel cats, which frequents swift
water and is clean feeder, is the equal
Of either in favor and their superior in
size.
1t is every whit as difficult to shoot
fish with the triangular projectile as
IL is to spear one. In each case allow
once must be made for the refraction
of the water, and if the fish is foot
under the surface the marksman must
aim at least foot on the near side OF
his object.
Fish may be, and often are, taken at
depth Of yard with one spear, but
II is useless to shoot at them when so
deep. Twelve inches of water is about
all that the gun may be trusted to pene-
trate with effect, and not then unless
the boat be so close as TO give strong
ly plunging shot Thirty feet away
the projectile will ricochet upon the
water.
When dozen boats are out on sand.
bar with the torches fiaring and power
full excited figures at work they make
picturesque sight. The only limit to
the number OF fish which may be taken
when the proper bar-is found is the
appetite and endurance of the takers.
Six hundred pounds in night is not
an especially heavy capture, and they
are not wasted, being shipped out of
the state to market, though that Is
against the law, too.