174 American Fisheries Society. 



which are only one hour's run by railway from Montreal on the 

 roads leading to Ottawa. 



Some time ago, a fourteen-year-old boy named Wanklyn was 

 trolling near Isle Perrot from a boat in which were his father and 

 sister. His bait was a perch nearly a pound in weight, the dorsal 

 fin of which, with its sharp rays or spikes, had no terrors for the 

 huge-throated fish which gorged himself with it and became im- 

 paled upon the hook. It may well be imagined that the boy had 

 a swift time for half an hour or so with his new connection. When 

 it was first found possible to bring the fish close up to the boat, 

 Mr. Wanklyn struck at it with the gaff and impaled it at the first 

 attempt. Its weight was such, however, that the effort to lift the 

 fish into the boat tore the gaff out of its body, and a stream of 

 blood marked its course as it writhed in the water, lashing it into 

 foam and then placing a considerable distance between itself and 

 the boat. It was not very long before it was again brought to the 

 side of the boat, and the gaff having a better hold in the body of 

 the fish this time, it was safely, though not without considerable 

 difficulty, lifted over the stern of the boat. Even then it was not 

 killed without considerable difficulty and some danger of upsetting 

 the boat. The head of a maskinonge, when well mounted, as this 

 one certainly is, makes a very handsome trophy. 



A few years ago, the Ontario Department of Fisheries at 

 Toronto received a magnificent specimen of maskinonge, over five 

 feet long and weighing fifty-two pounds. It was caught in the 

 branch of the Rideau River, which passes through Kemptville, by 

 Sam J. Martin, of Kemptville. Big as this specimen was, it has 

 been cast altogether in the shade by a capture by a French-Cana- 

 dian, Mr. Alphonse Allard, at Chateauguay, on the border of the 

 St. Lawrence, a little west of Montreal. This monster, which 

 was sixty pounds in weight, had a girth of twenty-seven inches. 

 The length of the head from the tip of the snout to the back of the 

 gill was exactly a foot. 



Most maskinonge are taken with hand line and trolling spoon, 

 and hauled in hand over hand, so that the fish have no opportunity 

 of displaying their game qualities. When, however, one fishes with 

 an eight-ounce black bass rod and brings a St. Lawrence maski- 

 nonge of thirty-two pounds fairly to gaff on it in twenty minutes, 

 as Dr. Henshall once did, he has certainly enjoyed twenty minutes 

 of exciting sport, and has reason to be proud of his achievement. 



