TROLLING FOR MUSKELLUNGE 



sec how it is possible to safely troll without it. To 

 lose a rod overboard is a disaster, even though the 

 fisherman is fortunate enough to hook on to the line, 

 as I once was. Let me say also, that once I threw over- 

 board an expensive casting rig, and though we angled 

 away for days it still lays in the silt on the bottom of 

 the lake. Two men can troll together with advantage, 

 the man with the rod sitting in the seat, facing the 

 stern. He is in the correct position to watch his rod 

 and play the fish. I do not like a hired boatman; 

 would much rather fish, turn and turn about, with a 

 brother angler. 



As to where to troll, all depends, of course, upon the 

 feeding grounds and weather. In windy weather the 

 fish seem to roam a great deal. Either the good fish are 

 more scattered, or the movement of the water makes 

 the muskellunge restless. Ordinarily the troller should 

 skirt the edges of weed-beds, follow the shore if the 

 water is deep enough, work out the sandbars, not 

 forgetting the mouths of inflowing creeks. Probably 

 the most likely territory is that of the weed-beds, for 

 there the minnows and small sunfish live, and the 

 muskellunge haunt such places. Upon occasion it 

 seems almost as if a man can take 'lunge anywhere, 

 but even as accidents happen in the best of regulated 

 families, it is an accident. The angler acquainted with 

 the habits of his quarry and the water is going to take 

 fish, where the mere tyro will never get a rise. Knowl- 

 edge is power, it is said, and I know that knowledge 

 spells muskellunge. Of the two important requisites — 

 fish knowledge and good tackle — the first is of greater 

 importance. I do not belittle good tackle; but just the 

 same, unless the fisherman knows something of the 



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