MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 



more eagerly snapped up by the former than the latter, 

 is also an error. However, in my experience at least, 

 I have found live bait more successful with 'lunge 

 than with great pike, probably because I more often 

 employ it with the former than the latter. I think 

 that a large muskellunge is more shy and wary than 

 a great pike of equal size. It is easier to allay the 

 suspicions of a wary fish with a natural bait than 

 with an artificial lure, provided always that the 

 angler knows how to handle live bait. Always, I 

 think, muskellunge fishermen should resort to live 

 minnows when fishing waters where muskellunge have 

 become abnormally suspicious and wary. Then, too, 

 there are days even on a comparatively wild lake 

 when minnows are more attractive than any "plug," 

 spoon, or pork rind. 



I am not altogether sure that there is any great 

 merit in a ten-inch fishlet, though I know a number 

 of good 'lunge fishermen who have a very decided 

 prejudice for that size sucker. I have experimented 

 carefully for more than fifteen years, and must confess 

 to a firm conviction that whatever advantage the ten- 

 inch sucker has over a six-inch chub is miore than 

 offset by the difficulty in handling. I know of no 

 seven-ounce wood rod that will stand up under the 

 strain of casting a ten-inch sucker, and I am very 

 certain that I would not want to subject my "De 

 Luxe Bristol" to the abuse. When it comes to still- 

 fishing — well, that is, of course, a different matter.* 

 One could use a ten-inch fish for bait, provided he 

 did not cast. There is no enjoyment nor sport in 

 casting a young fish. If one must cast with so large 



*See Appendix II. 



143 



