The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-20
TWO FISH STORIES
TOLD BY ~IRVINGTONlANS

~ ~ AAohAAAo ~ AWC III 800
said Betty. MY experience this summer
has put me beyond the desire for such fin
gerlings as 'punkin seeds dittle sunfsh)
and redeyes. / have caught the small-mouth
black bass and its large-mouth cousin, only
a whit less game, in the ever-cold waters of
the north. From the streams emptying into
Lake Superior 1 have taken the dainty,
speckled trout. and from the little spring
fed lakes / have lured the namaycush, a
fish the guide called gray trout, but which
looked exactly like the Mackinaw trout L
saw in the boats that came i'll from fishing
grounds near the straits while 1 was at
Mackinac. island. Namaycush, l believe, is
the Indian name. 1 also caught. while troll
ing about the islands of st. Mary's river, a
fish that some of the tourists called pick
erel. but which l learned later was the pike.
1t resembles the grass-pike found in White
river, but is much larger. running from two
pounds-the smallest saw-up TO twenty
or thirty pounds. AT some places the big
ones are called muskellunge. L was told,
but i am sure ! caught none, for the largest
pike / hooked weighed only nine pounds and
it made little fight, whereas the muskel-
lungesis said to resist landing until 1t is
gated"
Betty had Just returned to Irvington after
spending two months in the wilds of Cana
da and northern Michigan, and was relating
her experience to Phyllis, Martha, Ruth and
Laura, four Butler College girls, whose
tanned faces, hands and arms indicated
they, too, had spent their vacations in the
open air.
Betty's brother, Jack, entered the room
as his sister was telling about the pike.
eff a big pike is a muskellunge," said
Jack, II have just seen one. John Kings
bury has one he brought home from Crooked
lake last night. 1t weighs nineteen pounds
and is three and a half feet long. It's a
whopper-bigger than anything 1 saw while
we were away, except that seventy-ive-
pound sturgeon the fisherman found tangled
in his net in the Georgian bay. Jack was
with Betty on her fishing trip John has
his fish on ice. Better see it. girls, before it
is chopped into steaks
Betty has become an enthusiastic fisher
man since her first lesson in catching red
eyes last spring in Pleasant run. A big fish
interested her and she led the way TO
K~ingsbury's, lodging the business-,lke
ditching machine that is playing havoc with
Irvington's streets by cutting long, deep fur
rows for water and sewer pipes. John, who
was proud of his catch, but too modest TO
make a show of it. tried to dodge as he saw
Betty and the girls coming.
John, we wish to see that big fish, Betty
almost shouted as she approached the house.
And we want to see it weighed added
Phyllis. mo fish story goes with us"
They are all from Missouri" said Jack,
dropping into slang. They wouldn't be-
lieve me when L said it weighed nineteen
pounds"
1T weighed a little over that when taken
out of the water replied John. There is
the fish exhibiting the price and there are
the scales"
HAS a pike scales? / don't see any on
this fish," Laura remarked, with an effort
at a pun.
II wonder if it is full of lead?'' queried
Martha, as she mischievously smiled and
nudged Ruth.
mo lead, stones or brickbats, unless the
fish loaded itself before it was hooked" said
John, ignoring Laura's pun and laying the
pike on the scales. See. 1t weighs nineteen
pounds and one OUNCE he added. as he adj
justed the balance.
And it is over three feet long" Betty
said, measuring it critically with her eye.
Three feet SIX" and John held up the
fish near Virginia, a little girl, letting the
tail touch the ground. Virginia is just three
feet eight inches tall and the head of the
pike is within two inches of the top of her
head.
When the fish had been put back in the
icebox the girls fired a volley of questions
at its captor.
Ibid it pull hard? What kind of bait did
you use? How long did it take to get the
pix into the boat? Was the sport exciting?
And where is Crooked lake?" was asked.
The young fisherman said he was entitled
to only half the credit of catching the fish,
his brother Layman having rowed the boat
with such skill as to make its landing pos
| sible. Crooked lake." he continued, is i'm
Steuben county, near the Michigan line. 1t
is a noted place for black bass, pike, blue
gills, redeyes and perch, and is visited by
many persons from Angola, Fort Wayne
and indianapolis. Near it is James lake,
| said to be the second largest body of water
in Indiana. DIR. Waterman spent part of
the summer at the latter lake and had good
sport, but 1 do not believe it contains as
many fish as Crooked lake. / was on the