Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-27
GREED OF THE MASKINONGE.
Heavy Eaters Are These Fresh Water
Sharks of Canada.

! Hull (Canada) Cor. New York Sun.
A fine maskinonge was killed in the OF
| tawa river not far from here lately. rs
| captor was trolling for pickerel with a
| bare spoon and was greatly surprised
when he received a tug which nearly
wrenched his arm out. followed by the
| peculiar shake and rush which told that a
| genuine old stager had taken hold There
| was good half hour of vigorous playing
| brought near enough to the boat to lie
| killed. 1t weighed twenty-nine pounds
| and was exactly four feet in length over
all.
| Another fine fish, which measured half a
foot more in length. was taken few miles
higher up the river on Tuesday last. 1t
weighed thirty-fve pounds. This one was
| taken in the orthodox manner, that Is
| upon large spoon bait. with a triangular
bit of pork on the hooks.
In both of these cases no attempt was
made to get the mate which was probably
close by. 1t is seldom that the fish are to
be found cruising alone.
They tell tale hereabouts of a splendid
pair of these giants being caught upon one
set of hooks In Lake Deschenes. The spoon
was armed with triple set of large hooks
| hung by a swivel from the line in such a
manner that they trailed in the water
| about half way down the spoon. At the
! tail end the usual gang of hooks was at
| tached with the bit of pork.
| A tNlTtE-SeVen-pOund flSh dashed at the
bait and got two of the hooks we'll set in
| his bony mouth. The fisherman was haul
| ing him in, when the other. probably the
| female fish. seized the spoon itself, or at
| any rate so darted at 1t that 1t was caught
| in the eye socket and securely held.
| The man was alone on the lake and was
| at his wits end AS he told the tale he
| dragged the boat up by hauling upon his
line to where the two creatures thrashed
about on the surface and cooking his sin
! gle-barreled gun, held the line in his left
| hand while with his right he fired IN the
| direction of his captives. His chance shot
| that they could be towed into shallow
| water. The combined weight of the two
| fish was seyenty-eight pounds.
| But the largest fish known to have been
| taken in this district was caught in a much
simpler manner. Old Peter Brule speared
| 1t with boathook. near the mouth of the
Gatineau. 1t was basking and apparently
| fast asleep on the surface of the river
when the old man first saw it. and he
| was about to row up to 1t and liz. it in for
| floating log when he deserted signs of
life. and instead hurled his boathook
| straight at 1t.
good deal of splashing ensued. but
| somehow or another the old river waif con-
| triVed to loop a cord around it's tail ard
| to tow the great thing ashore 1t was a
very gaunt, ugly specimen, and weighed
| on the paper mill scales sixty-two pounds.
This was not, however, all maskinonge,
Within the gullet of the monster was half
/ of a partly decayed twenty-pound stur-
| geon. With the assistance of his wife the
| writer once captured an immense pike with
| an ordinary landing net, which had an
| other pike pretty nearly as big as himself
! half in and half out of his jaws.
| They make vigorous struggle for iife
| these powerful torpedO-shaped giants, but
| as they are generally caught with hand
| lines and by trolling they do not give as
| much sport as might be expected. AS a
| rule they do not break water very much,
| but after a few fierce rushes are dragged
| In swaying from side to side.
Sportsmen rejoice over the death of every
| one of these creatures; with how great rea-
son was well shown In the case of one OF
those taken this week. This one had in
| Its huge nav two young ducks. large
| whitefsh and two-pound trout. If this
was simply an ordinary meal the annual
| upkeep of a big maskinonge must be a
serious charge upon the water 1t inhabits