MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 



wise angler. Random casting will get you about as far 

 in 'lunge fishing as random work will get you anywhere. 



I remember a small lake in Minnesota, the home of 

 what some of my friends call the "real muskellunge," 

 or Esox immaculatus, the spotless form, where I had 

 good fishing two springs and falls. At the upper end 

 of the lake near the inlet, a log laid, with one end upon 

 the shore and the other well out in the water. Wind 

 and current had mined a deep hole under and behind 

 the log. Youthful then in muskel lunge lore, but other- 

 wise somewhat ichthyic-wise, I "felt" it was a good 

 place for a fish. My minnow landed just at the side 

 of the log, there was a splash and boil, and I was fast 

 in the log. Simply the fish had dashed around the log 

 after seizing the hook, and so had hooked me solidly. 

 I kept away from the spot until late evening, then 

 got my fish. Three days later I took a second fish, 

 though palpably smaller, from the same spot. Visit- 

 ing the lake in the fall of the same year, I secured 

 another muskellunge. During the two years I took 

 no less than seven fish from beneath that log. It was the 

 throne-room of all the muskellunge of the water, a 

 throne-room held always by the largest fish taken by 

 me. I there learned my first lesson, viz., there are 

 certain spots which are natural 'lunge lairs. 



The bait fisher — any variety of muskellunge fisher, 

 in fact — will find the middle of the summer com- 

 paratively unremunerative. The "wasser-wolf" is not 

 a lover of hot weather. While fish are taken in July 

 and August, one cannot be sure of a bag, resort keepers 

 to the contrary notwithstanding. Better far wait for 

 the cooling days of autumn. In midsummer 'lunge 

 are morose, surly, and lethargic, lying for hours upon 



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