76 THE REPORT UPON No. 13 



About guides for fishing. Tiiere are poor men wlio could pick up an odd day's 

 pay if it was not for the guide license, and those wanting guides would have better 

 satisfaction and accommodation, as he has heard that licensed guides get too inde- 

 pendent. 



Ducks are as plentiful as usual, and partridges more so. 



Overseer Enoch Merriam, of Harwood, reports that the fishing in Rice Lake 

 for maskinonge was good. Four Americans came to Harwood on the 2nd June; 

 they fished four days and caught 35 maskinonge and one bass. They had four 

 fish to eat while there, and took the other 32 maskinonge with them, the weight 

 of which was 300 lbs. — a little over 10 lbs. each. He acted as guide for one boat. 

 Tliree Indian guides from Hiawatha went to Gore's Landing to paddle three 

 Americans, but they could not make a catch. They then came down to Idyl wild 

 in his division, stopped two days, and caught all the fish they wanted. They had 

 15 maskinonge and a few bass, and every one was well pleased with their catch 

 of maskinonge. But the catch of bass was not good, and a great many of the 

 anglers would sooner fish for bass than for maskinonge. He cannot account for 

 the scarceness of the bass, unless it is the so-called mudcat fishers that are catching 

 the bass when on the sand beds and gravel shores, where the black bass are to be 

 found in the latter part of May and the first of June, and in the early part of 

 May the green bass are around the bays on the mud. He went up to two fellows 

 fisliing mudcats one rainy day; they were within five feet of the bay and fishing 

 with rod and line in about five feet of water. They were using worms for bait, 

 and they caught six bass in less than fifteen minutes and returned them to the 

 water. They laughed and said that those bass would all be mudcats if he was 

 not there. He has seen twelve boats fishing for mudcats in about two miles. A 

 man told him in the presence of two others that he went out to catch mudcats 

 alongside the bay, and the hass were just coming out of the shallow water, that 

 the bass bit so fast that he had to leave that part. He returned them all to the 

 water, and he has no reason to doubt his word. But he has not the same opinion 

 of every one who comes out to catch mudcats. The man who only wants to catch 

 a few mudcats — or bullheads as some call them — will come out on the water about 

 half an hour before sundown. But there are other parties who come out at 8 

 a.m., and they fish all day and keep this up till the season opens for trolling. He 

 til inks if these fellows were not allowed to come out till about an hour before sun- 

 down, it would be a great protection to the bass, as the mudcats do not bite well 

 till after the sun is down. There were not as many Americans there this past 

 summer, on account of the bass not biting well the year before. 



The trapping for muskrats was fairly good last spring, though not as good as 

 usual, owing to the fact that winter rats were a good price, and the poachers went 

 to cutting the houses. He found one party at such work and had him fined, and 

 the money sent to the Government. The rats are hard at work now putting 

 up their camps for winter. Ducks were very plentiful last spring. As there is 

 no shooting done in spring, they stop there and feed on the wild rice and water 

 celery. The two hundred yard limit is a little cramped for shooters in Rice 

 Lake ; it brings the party who does not own a point too close to the man who does, 

 and causes a hard feeling among the sports that would not exist if they had a 

 three hundred limit; they would be far enough apart not to interfere with each 

 other. The duck is not like the fish, which has no chance to leave, but the duck 

 is a passer-by. They sit out in the deep water and feed on the wild rice and 

 water celery, then leave when they are fat and go to the American side. He 

 thinks, as well as many others, that the rice beds should be included in the rush 



