Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-20
FISHING THROUGH
ICE GREAT SPORT
Sportsman Tells Of Nine Days
Experience in Getting Speci-
mems FROM Lake Paygan.
Special Corrcspondcncc OF Every Evening
BY George r. Casc.

Fishing il A merry sport with lots
Of thrills, sometimes real hardshIps and
even danger, but i doubt II many lovers Of
the road have had quite such an experience
ms that which went through for nine days
one winter, not No long back, in fulfilling an
assignment To secure number Of spcci-
men fsh for an aquarium in Chicago.
IL happened that number Of speci-
mems of lax sturgeon, small-mouth bass,
large cat fish, wall-eyed pike and certain
other lake deninens were much desired
for the use of this aquarium. Further
more, il was decided that tho ideal place
to obtain the same would be certain
body Of water known A. Lake Pnygan,
near WInneconne, Wis.
Here commercial fishermen made II
practice to seine fish through the ice and,
Of course, it was from frozen waters that
such specimens must be secured at that
particular season Of tho year.
To assure me Of the pleasant days
TO como snow storm held our train hours
late getting 20 Berlin, where we were 10
change trains. As result we had the
pleasure Of spending two days there until
the snow blockade Of the branch to Win
neconne was overcome Then all We had
To do was take n ten-Inilc drive against a
wind that cut tu tho marrow with tho
thermometer at 20 below zero In order to
reach Lake Paygan.
now rnEr 20 IT.
Here the interesting situations began.
The seine which the fishermen we're using
was 1000 yards in length with a 6ofoot
center. When saw this ] wondered how
in the world they were ever going to get
it under the frozen surface of the lake for
the ice was ~ inches thick. Here's the
way they tackle a job like that:
The seine was first stacked on the
ice in two piles beginning at the ccn-
ter. II Ind to be laid cut very care
fully SO a. TO prevent tangling. To
the brazil or end Of the seine a heavy
hawscr is fastened and TO this lighter
line with a needle h attached This needle
IL not the kind through the eye of which
the camel found so much difficulty In rass
ing. II is long strip of fiat board, eight
inches wide, and half an inch thick and
twelve feet in length.
Holes are then chopped through the
ice, no little Job in itself when you consider
the thickness of the ice. These holes.
spaced about is feet apart extended away
from the seine in either direction in semi
circular form. The needle is then started
under the ice and pushed from hoie 20
hole, a pike pole being used for this pro
pclling purpose. Gasoline uinches are
utilized for hauling the seine. When the
brazil il reached the winohes arc shifted
from time TO time with the center of the
seine.
Lake Poyran is noted for its fine
collection oi anags. logs and tree stumps
on the lake floor. AS result il Is
difficult proposition to land the seine when
it has filled with fish A large opening was
cut through the Ice 20 land the seine
through NJ then work began.
somn or run DIFFICULTIES.
We had to make Eve hnuls before we
attained succesa Consider that it re-
quires m entire day to make hnul and
you will realize that tins was Some fishing
expedition. Then it takes another day TO
mend the meta. In our first four hauls the
nets became entangled with the obstacles
under the ice and badly torn so the fish
were let out through the holes and rents
made in the netting.
Ii was the fifth haul that spelled sue
cess for me. In she came with % large
sturgeon, some too large to handle. They
measured eight and ten feet in length
Then there were hundreds of small maath
bass, and all sorts of small game fish
! estimated, some ; 900 coarse FISH which
are all the fishermen are allowed 20 take
After the specimens for which had per-
mits had been selected the rest of the
fish were replaced in the water | selected
one fine six-foot sturgeon, % small mouth
bass, which ranged from to T. pounds
In weight, several large cat fish, Is wall
eyed pike four plckerel and ten ecls.
| was on the lake for nine days After
each haul we drove back TO town. Fol
lowing the successful haul we started for
Wlnneconne. We had To walk ahead of