Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-08-09
.LOOKER-ON in IOWA:
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
For the Times Republican.

Okoboji Aug. Sits useless to deny
that as a place Ito so a-lishing both
the west and east Okoboji's. as we'll as
Spirit Lake have not the attractions for
the lover OF good fishing ali three lakes
had d few years ago. To be sure, one
can still hire professional fisherman,
his boat, his bait, his knowledge and hls
services for SO to 81 day and by going
before breakfast ancs sticking to it till
after sunset u fair string of pike, bass
or pickerel can be caught But two
such men by hard work Will not average
one fish an hour.
Time was when anybJly could catch
big strings of fish in d few hours at any
che of the three lakes. one hundred ard
fifty big perch in three hours was only
Il common story. Seventy five croppies
after supper" the writer knows of as a
fact. And when real sportsmen came
up for fun their friends We're sure of q
'tig box by express three days after they
left home. But something has hap
l,ened: even the minnows for bait are
now shipped in from thirty miles away.
And 10 cents dozen is the market
price, with q continued scarcity, and 10
cents n dozen has been paid this year
for mice big river chubs. Even frogs
are scarce this year from some cause.
Some think it comes from the shipping
cut early this spring of hundreds of
dozens of big fellows whose hind legs
were spread on many hotel table. 9th
ers say it's the big rains that allow the
frogs to live in comfort far away from
the lake, In more security from man
n fisl to of
cents dozen and clubs at Is it's eX-
pensive business fishing for game fish
and catching bullheads and perch. Even
angleworms. srubs and grasshoppers
are scarce And when Stout" healthy
man of $50 has run down five active
bullfrogs in say sixty minutes, and had
some equally healthy bullheads take
tEem off his hook in one-quarter of that
time, he thinks If not uses some strong
words used in the army by mule drivers.
Now the reader must not think the
writer went without fish for food. On
the contrary, he ate fish of his own
catching at least in forty-two meals Of
two weeks vacation. Only this, bull
heads have less bones than some kinds
of game fish. and he had no trouble with
fish bones. Some doubling Thomas will
remark. Fish story when the writer
claims to have caught the big pike of
the season. After 8 p. M one day the
writer and two companions caught and
carried home forty eight fish weighing
siNty-five pounds. There were croppies
and pike and MISUNDERSTANDING
bulheads, only that pike caught on a
light steel rod. small silk line. weighed
- pounds and fourteen ounces. and
this expert bullheadest did the trick.
There is talk that this week a fish
commissioner with 1500 feet of seine is
going to seine out the bullheads. carp.
CARS and buffalo fish in East Okoboii,
and thus give the game fish chance to
earn an honest living and lead a better
life When one realizes and knows that
East Okoboj is six or eight miles long,
that Gar Lake is Il mass OF weeds no
seine can ever penetrate is connected
with 1T, that beyond is Mishna Some
thing Lake, and that West Okoboji is
sixty feet deep In some places. there
SUN seems n chance for the pleban fish
t., escape determination.
Tut If the fishing is OFF Society" is on
ut the Lake. Every year there is MOI G
st,le. more of a display of wealth and
all that goes with 1t. Gasoline launches
are now as common as rowboats were
"a few years ago. Fine saihoats are
greater in number every year The
steamboats, have formed n combine all
under one management and tickets for
one boat are good on all They pretend
To run on schedule time. but the writer
and others found themselves late i'm ar
irving at church. and Sunday dinner
still later by depending upon them. II
must be admitted to pick up party to
go to a dance at the Iowa Manhattan. |
Arnolds or the Milwaukee they are all
wavs on time. but TO get home after
that's different
Several automobiles private. and one
public motor bus, are seen frequently