June 22, 188a.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



40S 



My frog was trailing along oti (be hffiide near the lily pads 

 -.'mis astern, and fearing our lines would foul, I 

 began to n el in to get out of the way, all the time watching 

 Dan'i line as th fish ran it out A smart pull on my line 

 caused me to glance in the direction of my bait, and I caught a 

 glimpse f.t'the broad tail of a fish within a foot of thelilies, as 

 it disappeared with a sweep nuclei- the water. I was on my 

 feet toosoon to mention, and as the line ran out past the stern 

 into deep water. I believe now, that 1 was "a leetJe mite 

 narvous." 



"Look out, Daniel! there's music iu the air; there goes the 

 'tmllbass' of the Six Lakes:' " but Dan was busy, having 

 hooked up and struck his fish, which was surging on toward 

 the rushes with forty yards of line out. My line was run- 

 ning slowly out under Ids rod, which made the situation look 

 awkward tor handling both fish, and reaching over his head 

 as he sat lacing the stern, I passed my rod under his, out- 

 side, and stood up looking lakeward, with a clear field for a 

 fair fight. At Qrst I thought my tish was a bass, but he ran 

 the line out so slowly thai [said: "Pickerel; maybejnask- 

 alonge." If pickerel, I knew ho was a big one; 'if maska- 

 longe, I knew nothing, for I had never handled nor seen 

 one alive. T gave him plenty of time to swallow the frog to 

 the vent if he wanted (o, f or I was .determined we would not 

 part company by reason of the hook having an insecure hold 

 and tearing out at a critical time. When fortv or fifty feet 

 of line had run off the reel I struck him smartly to make 

 sure the barb of the hook would lie buried. 'It "was like 

 striking it into the side of the beat, and the only effect ii 

 produced was a rush Straight out into the lake, as resistless a 

 a locomotive. "With thirty yards of line off the reel and my 

 thumb nearly blistered, I held the rod up in the. right hand 

 and with the left, pulling one oar at a time, worked the boat 

 a hundred feet or more out into the lake, where 1 felt there 

 would be small danger of him doubling back on us ami 

 getting tangled up in the grass and lily stems. It was bung- 

 ling, awkward work, but the strong pull of the fish helped 

 materially to place a safe distance between us and the shore. 

 Slip, slip, as we drew out into the lake, the line went out 

 from under my thumb, foot by foot, every fibre in it under 

 a strain that threatened to part it or burst the rod into 

 splinters. 



1 was fishing that afternoon with a slender slip of Japanese 

 cane nine and a half feet long, and not larger at the tip than 

 the top end of a wheat straw, the whole, with the mount- 

 ings, weighing but "l ounces, but it was a glorious stick; 

 strong, pliable, and as thoroughly trusty as a piece of finely 

 tempered steel — a perfect rod, grown and modeled by 

 Stature. 



A clean one hundred yards of new G. braided linen line 

 on the reel and a 5-0 Limerick hook on gimp completed the 

 tackle with which the trouble began, but how much of it 

 would be left when the fight was ended was a matter for 

 serious consideration. Under the pull that 1 thought would 

 certainly cause something to give way, the fish veered around 

 to the right and went off down the lake like a vicious horse 

 with the bit in his teeth, the line, throwing up a little thin 

 sheet where it entered the water that showed the pace he was 

 goiug at. Twenty yards more line off and 1 had to shift my 

 thumb to the side of the spool to get a better stopping pur- 

 chase. 



"Line about all gone, Danny, and the fight just getting hot 

 — can't hold him much longer— performance '11 close in two 

 minutes unless something turns up to make that fish alter his 

 mind." The rod wa.s bent now so that every moment 1 

 was looking for the splinters to fly; the tug of war had come; 

 smash the rod or turn the fish. 



I felt the strain case a trifle, and when barely two layers 

 of line were left on the spool shaft, the fish came to the "sur- 

 face with a sweep of his tail that made the water fly, and 

 started, without an instant's pause, back toward the" boat. 

 He was too far away to make out what " tribe'' he belonged 

 to, but this was a question of little moment as long as he was 

 working under a pressure, of 120 pounds of fight to the inch. 

 The immediate danger was passed. After "the ordeal they 

 had just gone through, I believed the rod and line would bold 

 anything short of a Texas steer, and I drew a long breath of 

 relief and made up my mind that, barring an accident, that 

 fish would eventually bring up at the Camp of the King- 

 fishers, some five miles below. 



With so little line on the reel, it was hard work to pick up 

 the slack at the speed the fish was coming, but by the time 

 he was half way to the boat from the point where lie turned, 

 the rod was working again, and I was anxiously waiting the 

 next move in the game. Tie came straight "on, swerving 

 neither to the right nor to the left, and as he flashed into 

 sight and dashed under the boat, two yards under water, the 

 questhmof bis tribe, was no longer a" matter of conjecture. 

 "Maskalonge, Dan! by the great horn spoon of our fore- 

 fathers! Five feet long if he's an inch." 



But there was no time to talk. Wliipping the point of the 

 rod around the bow, with two feet of the tup under water to 

 insure the line from touching the boat or an out hanging oar, 

 it cut the water with a sharp hiss as it came up interposition 

 again for another trial of strength with old longface. Twenty 

 yards from the boat he sounded and went down until i 

 thought be would find the bottom of the lake, when sud- 

 denly the rod straightened back and my heart went down 

 into "my shoes, it seemed, for I thought the line had parted 

 and left me nothing but a bitter disappointment. Only for 

 an instant, however, for directly I felt a tremor run up the 

 line and down the rod to my hand, telling as plainly as a 

 "sounder" to a skilled operator that some one was sending a 

 message from the other end of the line. Translated from 

 the original Eaox it read, "Look out up there, old sardine! — 

 here yit, smeared all over with war paint and bilin' full o' 

 wrath.!" 



"Great Scott, Dan, look at that!" as an enormous fish 

 went straight up into the air with a mighty leap, and with 

 jaws wide spread, angrily shook himself from head to tail, 

 scattering the glittering drops from his quivering fins in a 

 miniature shower. What a magnificent fish he" was! bow 

 clean built and powerful he looked, and how frail the. little 

 thread and switch of a rod that were matched against his 

 amazing strength! He was in the air only for a "moment, 

 and yet what a glorious sight — a sight to be remembered and 

 talked of for a lifetime. 



1 estimated him to be between four and five feet in length, 

 and comparing him with a few large ones I had seen weighed 

 at different times, I said to Dan," "A thirty-five pounder, 

 sure." A noble fish, truly! and Ikw for years I had longed 

 to try conclusions with a "large one of this tribe — the great 

 northern pike, the terror of the waters. But, this fish had me 

 at a disadvantage. In the first place, I was not fishing for 

 maskalonge, and had only light bass tackle, a rather poor 

 equipment for a long struggle with a thirty or forty-pound 

 maskalonge that did not know just how strong he was, And 



then my old comrade, Dan. was. in a raanuer, helpless, and 

 could not be of the slightest assistance to me, unless it were 

 to make a few 'judicious reraariss" ! " critical periods of the 

 encounter, 



If he could have taken the oars and followed the fish in 

 some of his wild rushes, the odds would not have been so 

 unequal, but as it was, I had to guide the boat with one 

 hand by an occasional dip of an oar in the water, while 

 standing up and holding the rod in the other, as the fish 

 towed the little craft slowly around over the lake where the 

 whim led him. 



The issue depended solely on the strength of my tackle 

 and what little skill I was possessed of, and not, on 

 due advantage I might take over the old warrior at the'olher 

 end of the line. 



I wondered, too, if he had swallowed the hook and frog 

 far enough down to get his murderous teeth past the gimp". 

 If so, it was only a matter of time for him to saw the tine off 

 and "gang his ways.'' 

 But we would see. 



When he went into the air and reached the highest poiut 

 of his leap, I am positive he was fully the length of my rod 

 from the wafer, and as he fell back on his side with "a tre- 

 menduous splash, 1 believe my heart actually stood still until 

 the line tightened up and [ felt the thrill it imparted Ltd the rod 

 atevery stroke of his powerful tail, as he went. off quartering 

 up the lake with a pull that made my thumb burn as I be reel 

 turned grudgingly under it. ' 



Ail this time Dan had sat quietly at the stern of the boat, 

 saying not a word— patient old soul that he is— and in the 

 absorbing struggle with old longface, I had almost forgotten 

 him. 



Now he said, "Hickory, can you reach the gaff, and yank 

 this sneakin' cuss into the boat?" It was the same fish he 

 had struck near the shore — a pickerel of perhaps five pounds. 

 He had worried all the fight out of him, and reeling up short 

 had held him up to the top of the water, out of the way, 

 until he thought I would have time to lend him a helping 

 hand in putting the finishing stroke .to the "ill favored dee vrl." 

 It took but half a minute to reach the gaff, reach out and 

 jerk him into the boat, where we left him to gasp his life out 

 in the hot sun, a piece of Cruelty Unavoidable for lack of 

 time to break his neck with the club. Facing around, and 

 touching an oar to head the boat in line with our fish, the 

 battle raged hotly again. 



Slip, slip the line, went out till again there were but a. few 

 feet left on the reel; every inch now paid out under a strain 

 that dragged the little boat slowly through the water. When 

 almost in despair for the result he came "around to the right 

 again, and, in a wide circuit, worked back down the lake. 

 A hundred and fifty feet of line in the air from the tip of the 

 rod to where it touched the water, with barely a perceptible 

 sag in it. meant that the fish showed no signs" of tiring; and 

 lighting bis pipe, Dan settled himself to enjoy the sport. As 

 old "Musky" swung around 1 managed to take up a few 

 yards of line for an emergency; but this time it was Hot 

 needed, as he suddenly made a short turn, and coining back 

 up the lake, flashed by within ten feet of the bow of the 

 boat, 



How grandly he moved; and what immense power in the 

 steady, measured stroke of his broad tail! INo suufish move- 

 ment in that! no sill}- flirtings; no spasmodic cape rings and 

 crazy curvetings; but just the uncontrollable rush of an un- 

 tamed horse when he feels the first prick of the spur. As he 

 went by, and rod and arm and wrist, began their work again, 

 the old pickerel at the stern puffed an extra fragrant cloud 

 of smoke, and ventured an admouisher. "Careful, Hickory i 

 e-a-r-eful, old Mackerel! coolly! and don't you lose him!" 

 How could I cool-ly under a broiling sun, and the blood at 

 fever heat? But there was not the slightest tremor in my 

 nerves now; the first flurry of excitement had blown by long 

 ago, and I felt as steady as a rock; only a little anxious, per- 

 haps, as to the amount of gimp old longface had inside of 

 him. 



Had I lost my head for half a minute I would have lost the 

 fish in less time. 



A. similar caution from the veteran now and then, when 

 the fish seemed to be gaining an advantage, was about all 

 that was said for near an hour; the battle was fought out 

 almost in silence. 



For three-quarters of an hour he kept up this tireless, per- 

 sistent pull; up the lake, across, down, and once making a 

 widecircuit clear around the boat, gnashing his teeth, "we 

 imagine, in furious rage at his futile efforts to part the puny 

 thread that was wearing the life out of him and drawing 

 him with a silent, never relaxing force, relentless as fate, to 

 the gaff and certain death. After nearly an hour of this 

 desperate struggle for life. I fell the strain' on the rod relax 

 a trifle, a sign ids strength was failing him, and when he 

 surged around again toward the boat, Imanagcd to take up 

 twenty or thirty yards of line as he went by. Dan saidhe would 

 like to "feel of him'' for a minute or two just to get "one 

 taste of pure glory." I passed the rod to him in p© ec 

 faith, and sat down to give my legs, and arms, and wrists a 

 few mumlis needs:'- rest Taking it again 3,f. : ;3r a Lttie tiaie 

 (it cost old Dan a mighty effort to release his loving clasp of it) 

 the fish was brought around head to the boat, this time with 

 less exertion, and I began to work him carefully back, giv- 

 ing fine as he would surge from side to side, and taking it 

 up again under a pull to suit the rod. 



When fifty or sixty feet away he suddenly came to the 

 surface, and with just the dorsal fin and three or four inches 

 of the upper lobe of the caudal waving languidly from side 

 to side, allowed me to reel him up to Within fifteen feet of 

 the boat. 



Here, he turned broadside to us and I let him rest a little, 

 to give us time to study the case over and determine what 

 to do next. We did hot know whether that gentle move- 

 ment of the tail meant a clean surrender or a menace of 

 further war after a short armistice, or it: might he a ruse to 

 throw as off our .guard, when he would make some unlooked 

 for move and smash things all to flinders. I hesitated about 

 using the gaff, for he looked so heavy and powerful 1 feared 

 that in the struggle to get him in the little-skiff we might by 

 some unlucky chance be capsized and 1 would have to swim 

 for it and look after Dan besides, for in the water he would 

 be as helpless as a baby. To put the old fish hawk in 

 actual peril was not to be thought of, though fish, tackle 

 and all went to Davy Jones and we never got another 

 nibble as long as we lived. We couldn't just then think of 

 anything to help us out, we were in one of old Capt, 

 Truck's worst "categories." "Daniel, we've got an elephant 

 on our hands; what'll we do with him?" 



"Pull along shore and hunt a place where we can baach 

 him," suggested Dan. 



Entirely engrossed in the sport, we bad taken no note of 

 where the maskalonge was leading us, and on getting our 



hearings we found we were only n. couple of hundred feet 

 from (lie opposite shore where the fish was first struck — a 

 little below, and over a quarter of a mile from the mouth of 

 the little stream, AVhile making up our minds what 

 course to pursue, old longface bad remained quietly at 

 the top of the water a few feet from the boat, waving 

 his Hag and apparently resting, and revolving over in bis 

 mind some untried move that would prove an astonisher 

 to us. Handing the rod lo Dan — all the while keeping 

 the fine just taut — I took the oars and pulled along up 

 shore to find a [dace clear of bushes, grass and lily pads, 

 v, here I could get him into shallow water, wade in, jerk the 

 gaff into him and drag him ashore. 



As we moved away he swung around behind us and got 

 inshore fifteen or twenty yards from the boat, where be 

 warn along just abeam, with his dorsal out of water, with a 

 roug side pull that kept the rod in the shape of a crescent; 

 ut never once making a plunge or showing a sign of fight. 

 For 200 yards we pulled along the shore hunting"a place to 

 land, but. finding no suitable spot, we concluded to take the 

 nhauces with thegaff; as Dan said, "we either had to gaff 

 him or tow him to camp with the rod." Heading the boat 

 out into the lake I took the rod and brought him up where I 

 could reach him with the gaff. Here he balanced himself 

 on his tins ,".t the top of the water, glaring fiercely at us with 

 bis cruel looking eyes, hut showing not Die slightest disposi- 

 tion to renew the struggle. It. appeared to bean uncondi- 

 tional surrender, and now for the first time we bad a good 

 chance to look over his "parts." He looked a dangerous 

 customer — a vicious devil from snout to tail. The yellow 

 rings in his eyes imparted to them a glitter that was murder- 

 ous, and as he worked bis long, powerful jaw in the act of 

 breathing, it revealed two rows of terrible, teeth that said 

 plainly, " who enters here leaves hope behind." 



But a more pleasing sight to ns "was two inches of gimp 

 in sight at due corner of Ids mouth, and it was just this that 

 cost the game old warrior his life. 



We took all this in while I reached down and got the gaff. 

 Holding the rod up in the left hand and getting the steel, as 

 I thought, well under his jaw, I gave a quick pull, but 

 unfortunately it struck the jaw-bone and glanced off, slightly 

 turning the point. Quick as a flash a single stroke of 

 the tail sent him under the boat, barely missing it as he 

 went by. 



Instantly dropping the point of the rod into the water and 

 letting the line run free, 1 whipped it around the bow, and 

 the fight wa.s on again. A rush of sixty or seventy yards 

 .sufficed to tire him and bring him again to the surface" and 

 he was soon brought back to the boat with his courage com- 

 pletely gone. It would have been safer this time, perhaps, 

 could I have struck him aft of the vent, but he kept obsti- 

 nately head on to the boat, and I could get him barely close 

 enough to reach even that, so that Uncle Thad. Norris's ad- 

 vice about gaffing a fish, "Gaff him somewhere, " was tho 

 only ftha nee left. 



Picking up the gall again, I reached out, this time with 

 greater care, and getting the point well under his chin (if 

 fish have chins) jerked the steel into him. 



A mighty flirt of his tail came near taking me into the 

 water; but keeping a desperate grip on thegaff handle, I 

 succeeded (1 never can tell how) in dragging him over the 

 gunwale and inboard. As he fell into the boat his tail and 

 a part of the body slipped under the low thwart, which 

 stopped further mischief from that end. 



Quickly removing the gaff from his jaw and reversing it, 

 I ran the end of the handle under the rail supporting tho 

 thwart, and bringing it down across his head, used it as a 

 lever to hold him down. Planting the left knee near the 

 ventrals, 1 had him so fairly laid out that he couldn't make 

 a respectable flop. Taking Dan's pickerel string fa quarter 

 inch braided cord with a long wire needle attached) I passed 

 it through his gills and out of his mouth, carefully avoiding 

 the gleaming teeth, and knotting it firmly, cut the line a foot 

 above the gimp, raised him over the side of the boat and let 

 him slide gently into the water. He was so dazed at the 

 suddenness of his taking in and the rough treatment received 

 i n the last few moments that he made barely an effort to get 

 away; a surge or two to pidl himself together, and I led him 

 to the stem, where he was securely lied, and the hard-earned 

 victory was won. And it was a" victory any angler might, 

 well feel proud of — he might even be pardoned for boring 

 his friends with an occasional rehearsal of it during the re- 

 mainder of his natural lifetime, It was a battle that would 

 have pleased cool-headed old Lncle Thad., or the veteran. 

 Brother Dawson, to the heart's core, and even that skilled 

 salmon fisher, President. Arthur, would, I ween, have taken 

 a hand in such a fight with a right good relish. It was a 

 good hour and a half from the time he was first struck until 

 he was dragged over the side of the boat, a full hour of 

 v. hieh was a continuous, desperate struggle, liable at any in- 

 stant to end disastrously to Hickory and his tackle. 



Dan said "it was the 'loveliest tight that ever was fit," and 

 looking at the. fish and then at the rod and line, wondered 

 that it lasted more than a couple of minutes. No 

 more fishing that day; we could well afford to rest on 

 our laurels already won. Placing the little rod carefully and 

 tenderly in the boat, we pulled across the lake to quench our 

 thirst at the little stream, for it had been a long time between 

 drinks. 



Two lighter hearted or happier old pelicans never headed 

 boat for camp and supper, but we made such slow headway, 

 dragging our fish through the water, that the sun was down 

 when we drew out of "the river below, into White's Lake. 

 The edge of the evening deepened iuto twilight, and twilight 

 into darkness, before we were half way down White's, and 

 we had yet fully a mile and a half to go to camp. At the 

 foot of the. lake we felt around until we found the entrance 

 to the river, and in a manner groping our way through the 

 increasing darkness, we followed the little streak of faint 

 gray water through the woods, now scraping under an over- 

 hanging bush and anon coming almost to a stand-still to sort 

 the stream from the surrounding gloom, until at the end of 

 what seemed to us an hour, we floated out into the silent, 

 waters of Sisson's, in sight of the lone pine outlined against 

 the sky, overshadowing" camp at the point. 



When off the mouth of our little stream we could hear 

 voici sand see the ruddy glare of the camp-fire reflected on 

 nroundiug foliage," and we imagined we caught an 

 odorous whiff of coffee in the air, that we knew Frank would 

 have waiting for us. We heralded our approach by launch- 

 ing a yell that went rolling back into the low hills and away 

 down the lake in quavering echoes, starting half a dozen 

 neighborhood dogs into a melodious barking match and 

 arousing the camp into sudden activity. A clear bugle blast 

 came back to us over the water in the well-known voice of 

 the scribe, backed by a chorus of whoops that created a 

 furious spurt in the barking match/ and it was proclaim^ 





