Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1917-02-15

ii'HI D'CeUlDer TO May, Tue IT.ln WHO
makes MIA living with the trowel has u
long season with many idle days unless
he can turn his hand tn some other &C.
cupation.
Preliminary details consisted Of the en-
gagement Of a livery rig for the five-nilc
drive TO nc bay and the acquisition of a
small commissary outfit which was pro-
vided by Mrs. Ducharme. Aleck attended
to the tackle.
As learned later. the Lake Champlain
smclt Is seldom caught except through
the ice. Alcck informed me that in all
his experience, and he had flshed tho lake
for years. he had seen only two speci-
mems during the warm months of the
year. There Is considerable fishing OH
the open ice, but the majority OF the big
catches are made in the little wooden
houses called "shanties" which dot every
bay and inlet as soon as Jack Frost closes
the lake to navigation.
Champlain is the largest body % fresh
water in the United StatAs other than
the five Great Lakes and it seldom freezes
before the first week in February. Once
the water becomes cold enough to con-
gcal. the lake is liable to remain closed
until the first OF Aprii.
Friends of Alecl who cAine from the
satne parish In Canada owned n large
shanty at the bay and he had experienced
no difficulty in securing n loan Of It fer
an afternoon and evening. It was our
intention to leave the village Immediately
after dinner. which would give US most
OF the afternoon and as much of the cven-
ing rs we desired o., the ice.
Not the least pleasing incident OF the
outing was the ridc across q stretch of
the level plain lying between Lake
Chanplain and the Green Mountains.
The winding road passed through eec-
ton that has but little agricultural value.
the soil is poor and sandy. Aleck inform
ed me- and much of the distance the
second growth white pine grew close to
the travelled highway.
Farm houses were few and scattered
and the mid-wintcr silence was seldom
broken except when a Canada jay. inter-
rupted in its hunt for mischief, shrieked
a protest against our intrusion to prove
that the vice of scolding was not con-
! fined to one race or bipeds or when n
flock of chittering chick "a does frightened
from their feasting in the thornapple
thckets shot like little Jets of blue flame
into the thick tops of the low evergreens.
There are several small colonies of
summer cottages at the bay. each with
its community barn. and in five minutes
after the termination of our journey our
horse comfortably blanketed in a roomy
were toting our outfit consisting of the
lunch basket, three or four sets of tackle,
lantern, and an icepick across the ice
! to the shanty located about hundred
yards from the shore line in order to
obtain the proper depth of water.
! I have delved specifically into the
natural history of the smelt and have
learned that the eastern North American
species. Osmerus Mordax, is naturally a
| In h Al 1t.
like the salmon. ascends the rivers in the
spring to spawn and in doing so frequent
ly becomes land-locked. Such being the
case the original stock in Lake Cham
plain must have journeyed more than
thousand miles by the way of the st.
Lawrence and Sorel rivers.
| Our shanty was far more pretentious
than many that | have since seen. Its
owners were not commercial fishermen,
but they had built the little house for
the purpose of varying the bill of fare
in their own immediate families. 1t was
large enough for four fishermen while the
majority of the houses contain room for
only two and crowded at that. There
was good-sized window instead of the
single pane of glass. comfortable wooden
benches for seats. the stove was suffi-
GENTLY large to heat a room in a dwelling.
and had two kerosene lamps hung in
brackets on the wall.
While I made a mental inventory of
the interior Aleck started a fire and then
announced that the hard work of the day
was In order. the cutting of the holes
through the ice. Two of the four loose
boards in the floor were raised and with
the chisel two rough circular holes were
chopped through to the water of the lake.
The particles of floating ice were re-
moved with tin SKINNER. pipes were
loaded and fired. and teacher and pupil
sat down to their first lesson.
THE TACKLE THAT DOES IT.
While the whole process of smelt fish,
ing is unique. no feature of it is any
more so than the tackle. At the end of
a fine silk line is attached an ordinary
sinker of three or four ounces. A fairly
good weight is required for frequently the
fishing is in water from 65 to IS feet in
depth. Fifteen or eighteen inches above
the sinker and far enough apart so that
they will not touch each other arc at
tachcd two small gut hooks with long
slender snanks.
The line is woun, upSn u wooden reel
which is the particularly novel feature
of the .'utfit. 1t consists, not only Of u
reci. but u rot ~ Well and is so small
that 1t can re carried IN a coat pocket.
To make the reel the fisherman selects
IA piecH of straight. grained wood about
ten inches long ana less thar tTo inches
w'de and from: tie first four inches
waittles tn" reel similar in form 10 those
upon which the disciples OF lsaalS Walton
have wound thcir lines since the time
when the memory n, man runneth not
to the contrary.
: The rod H. fashioned from the rcn,ain-
ing six inches of the strip of wood. as
large as the finger ut the base and taper
/ ing to TIE size OF a small lead peHcil at
the tip. Into the end of the tip is driven
about half way to the head a small tack.
Without Offering any explanation, Aleck
took one of the TACKLES from the basket
into which our duffle had been packed.
and batting the hooks with bits of beef
liver no larger than q pea, dropped the
sinker through the hole in the floor
Seating himself on ono of the benches. he
began to pay out the line until the slack
showed that he sinkcr had touched bot
tom.
He made two turns about the reel and
IA half hitch around the tack In the tip
of the little rod and then raised and
lowered his hand several times until he
was sure that the sInker just cleared BY
raising and lowering his reel he kept the
bats in constant motion.
! THE trick in smelt fishing" he ey-
Planned. lis to know when the fish bites.
It's mouth Is small and the smelt is
such a gingcrly feeder that If you didn't
Keep the line moving you'd lose your bait
and never know It. Most OF the fish hook
themselves by grabbing the bait on the
UP shoot. You'd better rig up and get
busy If YOU want tried smelt for break