MUSKELLUNGE AND ARTIFICIAL LURES 



In habits, unless the muskellunge is more inclined 

 to solitude than the great pike, there is little differ- 

 ence. In a state of nature, fortunately for the fish, 

 pickerel and great pike spawn in March, while the 

 muskellunge do not seek the overflowed marshes and 

 shallow grassy streams until May. Hence the spawn of 

 the muskellunge is exposed, not only to the ravages of 

 young pickerel, but also to the avid appetite of mud- 

 hens, ducks, turtles, frogs, etc. I think it is Dr. Hen- 

 shall who asserts that comparatively few of the mus- 

 kellunge fry survive. As we know that every pound 

 of muskellunge represents several hundredweight of 

 other fish, we can understand the economy of nature. 

 However, when we add to natural enemies of mus- 

 kellunge the ardent angler, we can well rejoice that 

 at least two states have seriously taken up artificial 

 propagation of the fish. I doubt the wisdom of plant- 

 ing muskellunge and great pike in waters adapted to 

 other game fish; for while bass and pike do coexist in 

 the same waters at times, the indiscriminate planting 

 of the former is to be frowned upon. 



I must confess that the weight of muskellunge, as 

 given by Jordan and Evermann in "American Food 

 and Game Fishes," "loo pounds or more," appears to 

 me almost fabulous. Even eighty pounds savors of 

 the tales of Munchausen these days, whatever may 

 have been the fish's weight in days long gone by. 

 Mr. Tarlton Bean, in a report of the New York State 

 Fish Commission, records the taking of fish ranging 

 from forty to fifty pounds, but that was twenty years 

 and more ago. At Minoqua, where the Wisconsin 

 muskellunge hatchery is located, they have the record 

 of one forty-pound fish, but that specimen, too, was 

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