Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-10-01
VALUABLE POINTERS ABOUT
CATCHING MUSKALLONGE

There are as many muSkallOnge II,
the waters of Wisconsin and Mime
sofa as ever, but they run smaller
than in past years. Formerly it was
the practice of anglers to throw back
any fish which weighed less than 10
pounds; then they began to keep fish
which weigher as much as pounds;
now one of them taken into the boat
which weighed as much as pounds;
chance to get away.
The reason is plain. 1t takes a
muskallonge many years to attain
great size; most of the big ones have
been captured, or at least the ranks
of the big ones have been much
thinned; the little fellows must have
time in which to grow. The keenness
and numbers of fishermen increase,
however, and there is no probability
that the small ones will get any OPP
portunity to get above pounds
weight in case they are so unfortun-
ate as to strike at the spoon.
Yet the talk of small muskallongc
has its redeeming side. If they are
hooked when trolling with a spoon,
while a big guide perks the boat
rigidly a steel rod that n mule could
not break. they should of course be
thrown back. There is no sport or
element of craftsmanship, in fact,
in taking muskallonge of any size by
trolling. The fish is dragged to death
by the combined heft and muscle Of
both guide and angler just as surely
as a big bluefish is dragged to death
by cotton schooner ripping along
before a ten-knot berreze.
Some men who know what the
muskallonge is. however, go into the
lake country to take the small ones
and no others and they do it by cast
ing, much as u they were after bass.
There is as much sport in this as
there is in taking bass; it requires as
much knowledge of the fish. as much
skill in handling the rod and as much
deXterity in fighting the hooked fish.
There is, in fact, slight difference be-
tween fishing for bass and fishing for
small muskallonge except that the
muskallonge. pound for pound, will
probably fight harder and give more
enjoyment.
3 Indeed, if a man he alone in his
best, within 60 feet of a line of wild
rice, bullrushes or lilypads, with Il
light bamboo rod and No. 6 silk line,
and he hooks pound musky, it
will take all that he knows and can do
to save the fish. 1t will get into the
rice or weeds unless he gives the butt
plentifully and scientifically; it will
snap the line unless he yields at eX-
aptIy tba prnnar moment. II will coma
out of the water and shake its saw
age head, just as the gamest bass will
come out; it is more powerful than
the bass and quicker than the bass,
and as for temper, there is no fish
which has room for more. Nine times
out of ten, with the same tackle and
in the same water, it will take the
same man longer to land a muskal-
longe of five pounds than n bass of
five pounds This fish is of indomit-
able energy and high courage. 1t is
cock of the water it frequents, and up
to the day of its capture has never
met defeat. If il had it would not be
alive. Unlike the bass, il fees from
nothing whatever save large indi-
yiduals of its own species. Therefore
when it feels the barb, the instinct
of self-preservation is joined to n
furious choler. and it will not give up
the fight until utter exhaustion inter
yenes.
Casting for the muskallonge in
stead of trolling for them is becoming
more common. Ten years ago it was
not thought of. Now it is practiced
on many of the northern lakes and
on the forks of the Wisconsin and
Minnesota rivers. 1t sometimes hap
pens, of course, that i'm casting for
musl<ies which will run as high as G
pounds, carefully working along dead
logs or ten feet off shore, mans
bait is struck by one of the big fell
lows which weigh more than 20
pounds and are fighters for every
ounce of it. In such case he does the
best he can. He cannot land the fish
of course, but his object is to get as
much fight as possible between the
time of the strike and the time when
his line parts.
The day is near at hand, however,
when a properly equipped angler will
take the field and think it is a shame
to fight and Stay the muskallonge i'm
any way save by legitimate casting
and battling from stationary boat.
AS an excuse for dragging this fish
to death many muskallonge fishermen
say that the big fellows viii not fight
unless dragged; that if fought fair
ly they will sink to the bottom and
sulk. That is nonsense. Salmon of
any weight will sink to the bottom
and sulk but a scientific sportsman
gets. them out of their sulks. The
musky is courageous enough and
strong enough to fight any sort of