MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 



I sat for two or three minutes wondering what I 

 had best do, for I did not want to disturb the water 

 by trying to dislodge the minnow. I was just on the 

 point of sacrificing a portion of my line, hook and all, 

 when I noticed that the line was moving. Thinking 

 that perhaps the minnow had released itself, I picked 

 up the rod and began to reel. Imagine my astonish- 

 ment, if you can, when I discovered I was fast in a good 

 -fish. Actually, the muskellunge had swallowed the 

 perch and "gone to sleep." "Why?" Oh, I don't 

 know; one of the vagaries of angling which makes the 

 game so interesting. I played that fish full twenty 

 minutes and had him up to the side of the boat a 

 number of times, and when I reached for my revolver 

 the last time, thinking him exhausted, a loop of the 

 line fell over the handle of the reel. Came a convulsive 

 flop, the line parted, and my fish — mine no longer — 

 was free. I think he was the heaviest fish of the 

 season, but please remember, he got away. 



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