Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-03-13
NOVEL MODE OF FISHING ON
GREAT LAKES.
LIFE OF DAILY PERIL
City OF Buffalo Alone Has Quite Two
men-pogs That Figure Promi-
nently in the Chilly Wer&-Many
Interesting incidents.

of the fshixg business which is carl
ried on every winter ia Buffalo, They
know that fish are caught through
the ice, tkat a strong southwest wind
occasionally carries a few of the
brawny fisher lads down the river,
while a south wind drives them on
floating ice to the Canadian shore;
that storms come up suddenly and
cause death and that the hshermen's
dogs very often figure in heroic
roles; but most people do not know
that hundreds 81 men in the city
make their living in the winter by
casting lines Through the ice, and
that this city, for that very reason, is
one of the biggest hand-ffshfng cities
in the world. All along the lake men
go out on the ice and catch messes of
pike, whiIefE5h or ciscoes 0herring),
but at no point does the number equal
the number of men engaged in the in
dustry in Buffalo.
Many years ago the only ice fisher
men haits6 from the island, in the
vicinity of the foot of Michigan
street, and they MADE very good
| living, catching good strings every
| time they went out and easily dispos-
| ing of them at good prices. These
hardy men lived in little cottages on
| the lake front. fishef from the middle
of January till the latter part of
March or April, and accumulated SUI
! f1cient money during this period to
enable them to live the entire year
The seeming ease Of the life and the
generous remun GRAFTON during the
brief period of activity appealed to
men living in other parts of the city,
and the original hand of 500 or 400
| fisher folk began TO grow Last year
1t was nothing unusual to see between
2,000 and 1890 fishermen trail into
the foot of Michigan street between
8 and 6 O'Clock in the afternoon. The
| fish bite just as we'll as ever, but the
price paid is not so high as 1T used
to be.
Fishing this year began much
earlier than usual. The ice Orfinari-
| ly is not thick enough before the first
| of February TO sustain man, except
at points close to the shore. This
year fish were being caught through
| the ice during the first week of Janu-
airy Now the ice extends far up the
lake, and the men are able to get up
| almost to their favored spots, which
| lie off Bay View. The fishermen
start out for their days work about
4 O'Clock in the morning, and so ar
| range things that they are busy at
their lines at daylight. Then they
sit over holes in the ice until 1 or 2
O'Clock in tine afternoon, at which
time they start for the shore.
Each man, if he be a so-ca1led pro-
fessional fisherman, makes three or
| four holes in the ice within 50-foot
square. and through each drops two
lines with a t1p-up arrangement, which
tells him instantly if the bait is be-
ing attacked An expert can get
four bites at once and land a fish
from each line. Others less adept
will lose half.
When the weather is mild there is
no more invigorating and diverting
sport than this, but when the wind
bowls. as it SO often does, sweeping
UP clouds of fine snow and driving ice
chips into the faces of the fishermen;
when the air is so crisp that the water
which trickles off the line freezes on
the fingers of the sportsman, and
when snow fails so heavily that it is
impossible to see anything but a
stretch of ice curtained with white,
then fishing is no delightful pastime.
1t is. in fact, doubtful if any field of
labor is so filled with perils as is this.
The man who leaves his home in the
morning knows that he may fall
through an air-hole in the ice and
drown, that he may be lost in ter
rife storm, or that the ice may part
and carry him far out into open
water to perish from exposure or be
plunged into the icy water by the
chipping up of his frozen raft Hel
is never free from these dangers.
There are times. in February, when
the weather is stiff and clear and the |
ice thick and endless, when he is
comparatively safe; but early in the |
season, or late, the risk is very great. |
The wonder is that the fatalities are
not greater in number Two reasons |
are given why they are not; the in
telligence and faithfulness of the |
dogs, and the ruggedness of the men |
The average island fisherman can |
weather 20 storms, any one of which |
would cause the death of an ordinary
person They sit at the ice holes |
hauling in their lines with bare hands,
on days when the crisp air would !
frOstbite in a minute the uncovered |
hand of anyone else They go out
without OvercOats on days when seal |
garments and double underwear
would not be sufficient to keep warm
the average business man.
But the dogs are by far the most
features of the entire life
the lank. homely. NANCY dogs
which leer at strangers and lounge
lazily about the little island homes
during the summer.
A fisherman once said: eff it was
a case Of losing my dog or my wife,
think I'd keep the dog. because it
would be easier to duplicate the
wife"
The hardy men aren't always kind
to the dogs; they don't feed them any,
too well. and they very often givei
them a lash or a kick; but. notwith-
this seeming cruelty, dog
viii do more for his master than one
man will for another. He will cud-