The sun., 1903-05-03
BIG MUSKIES READY TO FIGHT.
The Shark OF the Unsalted Seas May he
Taken Now by the Angler.

The man who wants to catch and bake
a muskallonge in the face OF the law can
do so now with more ease than at any sea-
son Of the year. The ice is out of all the
streams and lakes tributary TO the Missis-
sppi River, and the fish are in the shallow
and sunny waters and are hungry To
catch them only bright spoon with three
big hooks behind il and careful trolling are
needed.
At this season the muskallonge go to
the headwaters of the streams or to tho shall
low places in lakes in pairs. They hang
about for days and are unusually savag,,
striking at anything which disturbs them.
There is never more than one pair to each
reach of shallow water and for the possess
sion Of prize places of the kind fierce battles
are fought, the females taking part as ear
nestly as the males.
In any cold stream which contains islands
the fish will be at the lower parts of the is
lands where the current is slackest. provided
there is hard, sandy bottom and not too
much water. They lie there all through the
day, their broad Hukes slowly waving to
and fro, their back fins sometimes showing
above the surface. They are not feeding
then, but merely enjoying the sun after the
iOuS oi Nhi'Vl' ''''oS' "'''N' '''SS
have lain semi-torpid at the bottoms of
deep pools,
Early in the spring when the musky is
feeding it hides in deeper water, often Sc
creting itself close to and behind som, big
boulder. and only its long, sharklike jaws
pro ject from behind the rock Then when a
bass or small pike or perch swims by it
darts out like a str eak Of light and its great
te eth come together like shears, dividing
fish Of two pounds weight as easily IA
woman's scissors snip bit OF thread
A man being rowed slowly, past one Of
the shallow places In river or lake trolls wit II
His object in using so much line is to per-
init the fish to recover from the disturbance
| caused by the boats shadow before tho
spoon comes along.
The resulting fight will not be 50 long
weight later in tie season, because the
| muskallonge have not yet come to full
strength and fatness, though they are in
fair condition. At that, ono Of fifteen
pounds will keep the angler busy for half
| an hour and will test the unframed wrist,
or the wrist out of training, to the utmost.
At this time, however, there IL more
] sport and surety in casting for the muskal-
longe with No. spoon. This is bait
which has weight enough to take out a
hundred feet Of line, without special
! effort on the part of tho caster and reele
| in rapidly is tempting The musky. being
| in bad temper. will be apt to strike at 1t
| whether il IL hungry or not.
Standing at the lower edge of an island,
with clear space behind him and keeping
! in hiding as we'll as possible. man may
cast out over the shadows and see the thin
| bright water bumped up from thirty feet
away as the great fish darts at the spoon.
| II the strike Is made and the hooks firmly
fastened the angler wffi have his hands
| full.
Not having big guide at the oars to help
! him to drag The fish to death, he will be COM
| peeled to fight 1t out with only his wrist
| 10 oppose to the mighty rushes. His foot
| ing will be good. but that is the only help
! he will have beyond his own strength and
! skill and he win have to wrest'e his prey
| to a standstill or lose hs silk and lure
! The best man that ever laid his thumb
| over a reel cannot kill a well grown musky
| under these conditions in less than twenty
minutes and some fish will war for an
| hour. When the fish has been fought
nearly to exhaustion 1t will be necessary
| to bring Il in and work 1t onto the sand
| where the water il not more than foot
| deep and then the angler will have to wade
| ou, and gan It or shoot 1t with small
pistol, for there is no such thing as takinS s