The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-03
FISH THROUGH ICE
SPORT DURING THEIR LONG
WINTERS
GREAT PIKE PERCH CAUGHT
Hooks Halted With Live MinnOvs
Used by the Izaak WaItOns
Who Ply Their Art
I'm Winter.

Canadian anglers need not lay UP their
fishing tackle for the season at the ap-
proach of winter, says the New York
Sun. Those who care for the sport can
do a good deal of fishing even in the
heart of the Canadian winter, and can
get some large fish, too.
Fishing through the ice is attended
with very much less discomfort than a
stranger to the sport would imagine.
There is probably no more health-in-
spring recreation known than the long
tramps on snOwshoes through the woods
and over the frozen surface Of the lakes
in which Canadian hunters and winter
fishermen indulge, when several feet of
Snow cover the whole face of the coun-
try. :
Brook or speckled trout are among the
few fishes that may not be caught
through the ice, but this is not very much
of a deprivation after ALL Few of them
would be taken if they We're fished for.
since they do not take bait well in the
winter
Both the big Takers, or great trout. and
the dore or pike-perch are caught in
large numbers through the ice in Cana
dian waters. The latter are called dore
by the French-Canadians, because of
their golden tints. They attain a weight
of sixteen or twenty pounds in some of
the northern lakes of the dominion, and
have been taken up to this weight in Lake
KiskisSink, on the preserve of the Meta
betchouan Fish and Game club, in the
Lake st. John country, where Senator
Platt and some Of his New England
friends have done a good deal of their
fishing.
In the summer season these fish fire.
quently rise to the anglers trout flies in
the cool waters of far northern lakes, and
put up a lively fight. Their flesh is es-
fo0y, cd o- ~, g.,
flavor, as for its beautiful whiteness
In some localities a large number of
holes is cut in the ice over the banks or
bars where the fish are known to lie. Tyha
hook is haited with a live minnow. A
comparatively heavy sinker is used for
the fish lie very near the bottom In the
still water of lakes.
Sometimes the lines are left set over
night, in which case almost all of them
Will be found to have hooked a fish NV
morning. For fishing in the daytime a
very simple device Is used to signal a
bite.
A piece Of lath about two feet long
with hole in it a little nearer one end
than the other is used; through this hole
IN the lath is loosely run a cross bar
which is laid across the hole in the ice
To the short end of the Iath the line Is
attached.
The moment the bait is seized by a fish
the other end of the lath flies upright
and remains so as long as the fish pulls
thus notifying the fisherman to secure his
Nrize. When there are from fifty to a.
hGpdred lines out, and the fish are biting
freely, it is exciting enough sport to
rush from one quivering signal to an
other, for perhaps there are four to six
in the air at the same time
Another plan for taking these fish in
winter is resorted to by the Indians in
parts of the great lake region. This is
the method Of spearing through the ice
from under tepee or temporary shanty.
erected over the hole in the ice.
A decoy minnow is kept in motion in