

Wisconsin and Minnesota now stand in 
the fore as offering lakes in which this fish 
maybe taken. Time there was when Michi- 
gan and Iowa could boast a goodly number 
whose waters harbored the mascalonge, but 
its taking in the lakes of these States is now 
attended with much uncertainty. The Up- 
per Peninsula of Michigan and some places 
in the Straits of Mackinac still afford 
_ moderately good mascalonge fishing. Wis- 
--consin and Minnesota, preferably the 
former, offer the most promising waters. 
Despite the rapid advances of civilization 
in the Northwest, Wisconsin is to-day not 
without its virgin waters, and it was my 
_ good fortune the past September to see two © 
lakes, in a country somewhat populous, as 
the term might be applied to that section, 
into which a line had never been cast, except 
from shore. I did not fish these waters, for 
I was already satisfied with my success, and 
then, too, the portage of a 200-pound row- 
boat for a full half-mile would have meant 
more than I cared, at the time, to under- 
take. I reserved the pleasure for another 
season. 4 
On the subject of tackle, it may not he 
amiss to recount my own observations. 
When the uninitiated hears of mascalonge 
fishing he has thoughts of windlass and 
cable. I, myself, confess to the error. The 
_ longer one fishes for mascalonge the smaller 
_ grows his tackle. When one can count his 
catches in two figures he is ready to make © 
concessions, but never with the first one. 
A MATTER OF A MASCALONGE 61 
The ’longe is not without strength, and if it 
is to be a tug-of-war, then adhere to the 
heavy tackle idea, although the stout line 
and powerful reel may not avail your pur- 
pose. The fish takes the bait rather ten- 
derly, and his landing depends more upon 
the handler’s skill than his athletic training. 
A braided line that will stand a strain of 
eighteen pounds and even less, with a reel 
capable of comfortably accommodating fifty 
yards, will be quite sufficient. To success- 
fully fish with a line of such limited length, 
however, will depend upon the angler and 
the dexterity of the oarsman. One hundred 
yards of line and a reel of one hundred and 
fifty yards capacity is to be preferred. The 
reason is obvious. Some reel-makers have 
a way of getting more line on the spool than 
the purchaser, and when one is playing a 
‘longe one hasn’t the time to look to an even 
distribution. Should the day be propitious 
the additional one hundred and fifty feet of 
line will not be needed, yet with a calm lake 
and a clear sky it may enable the angler to 
force a strike, when his incessant trolling 
would otherwise go unrewarded. 
I have often heard the theory advanced 
that the mascalonge strikes in anger. It has 
been said and printed that this fish, not con- 
tent with battering the lure that trails in the 
keel water, has dared strike a polished 
drinking cup when dipped into the lake. 
These battered mementoes have even been 
displayed to, the .too-credulous angler in 
substantiation of the narrator’s veracity. I 

