MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 



shore where marsh grass grows out into the water, 

 while the ideal position for the boat apparently is in 

 the weeds, that is where the muskellunge lie, and 

 should the angler hook a fish he would be in the worst 

 position possible to play his capture. Members of the 

 pike family know instinctively that a weed-bed offers 

 a safe refuge, or perhaps they are in the habit of rush- 

 ing to such spots to swallow their game; at any rate, 

 the instant a minnow is swallowed the fish starts for 

 a weed-bed if one be within reach. Consequently, I 

 advise the angler to fish from outside — from the water 

 side, allowing the minnow to swim toward the weeds 

 or other shelter. If one work along with exceeding 

 care he will not make any great disturbance; at least 

 not enough to frighten the ordinary 'lunge. Let me 

 again reiterate what I have said often: The angler 

 should act as though every muskellunge could hear a 

 whisper and see the flash of a rod from the distance 

 of half a mile. "Absurd!" Perhaps, but the man 

 who makes no noise, all else being equal, is the man who 

 takes the fish. 



I remember a little lake, or rather the arm of a large 

 lake, out south from Manitowish, Wisconsin, in which 

 ten years ago one could find muskellunge of length 

 and avoirdupois. Those days the anglers fished the 

 large lake, saying that the smaller one did not possess 

 sufficient depth nor area to attract the werewolf of 

 northern waters. I had discovered differently, but, 

 angler-like, I kept my discovery to myself. My fish- 

 ing was done, for the most part, in the two orthodox 

 vacation months, July and August, because my vaca- 

 tion, like so many, always happened in dog days. 

 I think I am safe in saying that I found live minnows 



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