The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-14
Red Eyed Bass in Their
Glory in the Flambeau.
HARD FIGHTERS AMID RAPIDS.
Exciting Sport for Anglers on
Rushing Waters.
Tactics ~ the Retieye Caught on the Hook
--rtshing Season Opens Badly In the
Northwest Owtns to High water
MuskaiIonge That Travel Through an
UNDERGROUND PassaEe-Skittertng for
Ptckerei and Spearing RedhOrse.

Underground PassaEe-Skittertng for
Ptckerei and speartns Redhorse.
Many experienced sportsmen say that
the north fork of the Flambeau River in
Wisconsin is the best fishing water in the
United States. The log drives are out
by June IS az common thing. Two weeks
must elapse thereafter before the water
Ia right. Therefore, the river is rarely IN
condition before July.
When right II Ia a very beautiful stream
indeed 1t will average seventy-five yards
in width, has hard bottom of pebbles and
sand and is wonderfully crooked. The
crooks occur, in fact, every hundred yards
or 50, each fresh turn affordng the angler
fresh view All the pine went from its
hanks long ago, the devastating axes of
the lumberjacks having swept them Of
such timber. but tho hemlocks are left.
growing massive and black-green above
the bright water the tamaracks, naples
and birohes are there and when the autumn
frosts have fallen each wind of the river
is a glory Of color--green and deep gold,
pale yellow, brown, flaming scarlet-and
the blue haze Of Indian summer over II
all.
for, while it is CLASSY clear, it has deep.
reddish tinge, not unlike certain kinds OF
molasses as made by the old open-kette
process. This hue is due to the quantity
Of iron in the soil through which it flows
and the water dashing down the rapids.
boiling. whirling and leaping high, carry
ing great patches Of red-hued foam, makes
A strange and attractive sight There never
hot hpweler for Irirk in,
straight. or mixed in toddies, or for cock
Ing or for fish.
There are plenty of muskallonge. plenty
OF wall-eyed pike and nyriads of red horse,
suckers and such fish in the Flambeau. re-
qiiring different tackle and different
methods, but the chief glory of the stream
Is it's red-eyed bass.
The red-eye or pink-eye is the genuine
small-mouthed black bass as distinguished
from the Oswego or large-mouthed bass.
The difference in the species is marked
in build and conduct. The small-mouth
lacks the black stripe down the sides of TIE
Oswego. it does not grow quite 40 large.
it is a slender and rounder fish. not often
having the pot-gutted bulge Of the big
mouth, its scales are much smaller and
finer and it is Of bright, yellowsh coppery
sheen along the sides.
In nature these two bass differ radically
The difference is that between blooded
racer and a cart horse. The red-eyed is
ewifter in the water than the big-mouthed
and ten times more active out of ii. is more
savage and enduring, is much gamer and
affords fifty times the pleasure,
In general terms. with the same tackle
and the same weight Of rod worked by the
Same wrist, a red-eye Of three pounds will
fight twice as hard and as long as big
mouthed Of five pounds; a red-eye OF four
pounds will far surpass the efforts OF any
large-m no matter whaeits size When
the red-eye in cold running water gets
above four pounds in weight, its capture
Ia always a matter OF great uncertainty
with any tackle which man would Use
ordinarily in whipping bass stream.
1t has been said truly that if a pike OF
twelve pounds should fight in proportion
TO its size and weight like the red-eyed bass
II could be taken with nothing less effective
than an axe, and that if the red-eys attained
to tho length and heft Of the mlskallonge
it would have to bo reeled with a windlass
and log chain and killed in the water with
held-piece. The remark in Henshals
book on the black bass that "inch for inch
and pound for pound it is the gamest thing
that swims. has grown to be trite through
frequent quotation, but it is az rue now az
when It was penned many years ago.
There may be muskallonge water as
good as the north fork Of the fismbean
River, though there is none better. There
ara several lakes from which moro and
larger wall-eyed pike may bc taken. but
as black bass water--stlictly black bass
and only black bass from source to mouth
its adherents are ready to swear that it's
equal does not exist on the face Of the
earth.
Tho fish in it run from pound and half to
five pounds. 1t is seldom that one of so small
weight as a pound and half is taken II
ia just ~ seldom that Hve-pounder comes
out. The majority OF bass captured will
run between ?k and three pounds, though
there are many sla-pounders and those Of
four pounds are not uncommon.
The average is thus high because fishing
in the Flambeau is not at it's best until
comparatively late in the year, when all
Of the fish are ravenous for food after the
disturbance Of the drives, and the big ones
shoulder aside or beat the little ones to the
, bait Moreover. most of the fishing is done
In the deep pools below the rapids, sinking
the lure we'll, and in those pools, far down.
hIe Tue dplulnB places o' Ine Oh men OF
the bass tribe
The angler who finds himself good COM
: pany and is fond Of solitary excursions,
is 1t a disadvantage on the Flamteam. be-
cause one man is required to handle the
boat. There are no oars on that river.
It's rapidly alternating shadows and depths
preclude their Use. The boats, shar p
at both ends. fat-bottomed, wide Of beam
and very strong, built to withstand any
number Of bumps and knocks from sharp
rocks. are driven and controlled entirely
by ash poles from eight to ten feet in length.
shod at the lower end with steel casing
The Indian Of the wilds will shoot birch
bark canoe down a rapid, using only a
paddle, and the skill he displays in avoiding
boulders is little short of the marvellous,
but the Indian Of the wilds is also frequently
drowned and his employers with him.
The white guides Of the Flambeau, Cana
dian, Scotch or Irish most of them. six-foot-
ers, powerful as beeves, 1.-THE rs panthers.
firing as mules stick to the pole and
accidents are almost unknown.
Most Of the Flambeau rapids are little
more than twenty yards long, with gentle
fan, Nearly always some sort Of passage