The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1910-05-18
what a monster they had succeeded

/
Hope more lively than any they
had felt before filled the hearts of the
young fishermen, as the monster mas
kinonge rushed across the cove. But
instead of hitting the narrow open
channel into the main lake, he rushed
across the wide bar, through ver-
| table forest of bulrushes.
Then the fight was quickly over.
The fish had been hooked only on the
treble hook in the rear of the casting
minnow; the hooks on the side
dragged through the rushes, and
caught upon so many of them that
the hook was torn from the mouth of
| Old Muskie, and again Lee reeled in
his line without the big fish at the
end of it.
Both boys sat in the canoe for sew
eral minutes as blue as boys could
be. 1t certainly was discouraging.
But presently Lee raised his head,
and with flash of his eyes said, "I'll
catch that fellow yeti"
And Carl Mills, with admiration
and determination both on his face,
said, Fright! And I'll help you do
it,"
A big maskinonge lives life much
like that of rogue elephant in its
isolation. He selects same spot-a
cove filled with lily-pads, bend of a
river, or a sunken treetop like the
home of Old Muskie-and there he
will stay, month after month, IL not
year after year. So there was little
danger of Old Muskie's leaving For
est Lodge Cove that summer unless
he was caught or killed or died the
mysterious death that comes to the
great fish of the streams and lakes.
Lee Henly and Carl Mills knew
this, and they had been learning more
and more of the habits of this partic-
ular maskinonge. In every new thing
that they learned, they felt that they
had one more aid toward the final
capture of Old Muskie and the real
ization of Lees ambition for college
that year.
Lee had learned that hooking the
big fish was the easiest part of the
work of capturing him. He decided
that he must provide by every pos
sible means against the ENHANCEMENT
of his casting-bait.
With this in view, he made wood
en- casting-minnow himself. He took
a spinner and the glass eyes from an
old one he had used, and from bit
of red cedar he whitfield out the shape
for the body. He had bought a very
heavy, although not very large,
hand-forged treble hook. He took a
heavy, spring-steel wire, and had the
old blacksmith at Kessler's Corners
weld an eye in it through the eye Of
the treble hook. He put on the back
spinner, and passed the wire through
the wooden minnow. He used no
front spinner, as it might catch in the
rushes.
The front eye he made in the wire
himself by bending and twisting till
he was sure beyond all question that
it was safe. Then he fastened his
copper leader into this eye, put the
glass eyes into the head of the min
now, and with careful painting his
bait was complete.
The season was now growing late.
College was to begin September 23.
On Tuesday, September 8, Carl and
Lee set out at daybreak on their
quest. They fished long and carefully
but got no strike. They left the cove
for half an hour, then tried again.
This time the great fish struck, but
was not hooked. Soon Forest Lodge
was astir, and fishing for Old Muskie
ended for that day.
Then came the last day. Carl was
to leave for college the following
Monday. 1--WE just must get him
this morning." he said, as they
pushed out from the landing with
the first glow of daylight. They
knew a little later in the day would
be better, but they felt that they
must lose no time.
Carl worked the canoe down the
shore, the little craft slipping through
the water as quietly as a floating
swan. Lee outdid himself in length
of cast, for he did not wish Old Mus
kie to take fright because they were
| too near.
At the fifth cast the big fish hit the
bait. He rushed savagely at it, and
closed his jaws down squarely upon
it. Lee struck as If for his life, and
drove the hooks deep into the fish S
jaw, and with click and drag both on
the reel and his thumb adding to the
pressure, he pulled all he thought his
tackle would bear-pulled straight
back toward the treetops, which he
was most anxious to avoid.
Stubbornly the big fish pulled in
the opposite direction, and with a
rush started across the cove. So fast
did the line run out that Lees thumb
was almost blistered, but he held it
hard against the spinning reel, and
the fish rushed on across the cove.
Straight through the forest of
1 l.