198 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



leave the water, and will not leap unless forced to do so, but 

 will endeavor to keep near the bottom, or to reach the cover 

 of weeds or rushes. 



With proper tackle the Mascalonge affords good sport, for 

 being a powerful fish it requires much skill and judgment on 

 the part of the angler to keep it away from the moss and 

 grass of the bottom, or from the weeds and <?4'-^r of the shore, 

 and to successfully bring it to gaff within a reasonable time. 

 The rod should be a good one of split-bamboo, or of ash 

 and lance-wood, and should weigh not more than ten, or at 

 the most twelve ounces, and should not exceed nine feet in 

 length. A first-class multiplying reel is indispensable, with 

 seventy-five yards of plaited silk line, No. 3, or letter E. 

 The hook should be a Sproat or an O'Shaughnessy, No. 3-0 

 to 5-0, and tied on a gimp snell. The best bait is a large 

 live minnow, or frog, either for casting or trolling, though for 

 the latter mode of fishing a large trolling-spoon with 2. single 

 hook may be used. 



Rowing slowly and cautiously along some twenty or thirty 

 yards outside of the weed-patches, the bait should be cast 

 to the edge of the weeds, reeling it in again very slowly, or 

 if the bait is alive it may be permitted to swim, just outside 

 of the weeds, for several seconds or a half-minute before 

 reeling. By moving along and making frequent casts the 

 angler's chances are much better than in still-fishing; or the 

 bait, or a spoon may be trolled along the edges of the water- 

 plants from a moving boat. The Mascalonge bites very sav- 

 agely, and should be hooked at once, before he has time to 

 take to his lair among the weeds. 



When a fish is hooked the boatman should pull at once for 

 deep water, that is, away from the weeds, and he should 

 be ready at all times to favor the angler in playing the fish 

 by careful and judicious management of the boat. When the 

 fish is brought alongside, the gaff should be passed under the 

 fish, slowly and deliberately, avoiding all sudden and encr- 



