The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-02
SPEARING .MUSKALLONGE.
Open season for the Sport on ChautauHua
lake About TO HeEln.

MAYvILLE. y. Y, Jan. 2j.-The season
for spearing muskallonge in Chautauqua
Lake will open on Monday, Feb 8. and will
continue for the next five weeks. Fisher
men are permitted to spear fish each Mon
day and Thursday. That makes ten days
Of fishing during the winter.
The spearing must be done between Q
A. NJ. and o p. NJ. Moreover. the fab
coops, or houses in which the fishermen
are sheltered, must not be on the ice before
the appointed hour In the morning, and
they must be removed by Q o'clock at night.
The coops are Of different skies and are
generally built to fit the owner. They
are invariably Of wood, and generally
range from ? feet Q inches wide, 8 feet long
and 4 feet high TO S feet long, 1 st wide
and o feet high. Some men prefer a shanty
In the form Of IN A tent. but the majority
build their coops with four sides and a roof.
The coop Is usually built on runners shod
with hoop-iron, though some men build
them without runners, and in taking them
TO and from the fishing ground, transport
them or a large sled.
The shanty has a door and generally a
bench extending around three sides. In
the roof is a hole. through which "a 2-inch
tin ~stovepipe may he thrust. The pipe leads
down inside the coop 20 a sheet-iron stove,
round, about eight inches In diameter and
a foo, high. IL is surprising the amount
OF heat one Of hose small stoves will put
forth when properly fed will. short wood
In the centre of the floor Ia hole. Some
times il is round and sometimes IL is square.
When $50 o'clock comes any Monday
or Thursday morning during the open sea-
son, io on, oyar he Ice from the shore
.i"InAs III aronnds Soma,imas one
w. =" an a. ,he coon Ia its place. hut the
asharrcn us,,alIy hunt in pairs,
w.. - nro,ar snot las bean reached
III - nu, In The joe a little larger than
The h,le in the hoor of the coon. The
- - ,han nuiIsd over the hole. Then.
s.;,b The door ~ the coon closed and the
rsAeotion from the fire In the stove shut of,
the sp.arer has no trouble In seeing through
the ten or twenty-five feet Of water between
the bottom OF the ooop and the bottom of
the Inkes
II then becomes a waiting game. The
fisherman sits down on the bench at one side
Of the coop, and IL he has a partner, the
mariner takes the bench on the opposite
side. Each man holds a spear and one OF
them ~manipulates the bait.
Sometimes one man will give all his atten-
ton 10 the bait To be a good bait holder
Is 70 he a valuable fishing partner. Any
body can do II somehow. but there are only
a few who can do II as II should be done
and the better IL Is done the more likely
one IL 90 20 home with fish.
The bait h a thin board from four 10 four
tssn inches long Generally u il about
six inches long II II carved and painted
90 represent a feb IL IL weighted on the
bottom 30 that u will maintain the proper
position IN the Nater.
To the back ~ the fish is attached a string
80 fastened that when ia" hsh In let down
into the water and the string IL pulled
smartly the fish VIII move forward and
then slde~iSs Ihe balt h made 20 r"-'ln-
Die, az much a. possible la SHAPE, color
aud movements. some 81 the email hsh
81 the lake on he the miskallonS- ~
wont 10 feed
MOI III. leasi important Iar Of the ouihi
10 the sIH.ar u lac hNo o. go lilies ahd a
shank twu OF two and q hall fe-f long H.
Ito end ~ ID" shank y a sooke' aud IN that
"a, k"i q pol" iTom Tire" &" hNo iuvi long