348 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
I [May 4, xgoi. 
during the summer months. On the contrary, the mus- 
callunge naturally makes its home along the bars which 
sometimes rise up in the lake, forming a deep cut bank or 
a drop off into the greater depths. On these bars a certain 
amount of fish food grows among weeds, lilies, water 
plants, etc., and in this gfirowth there swim the bass, 
wall-eyed pike, suckers, etc., upon which the muscallunge 
regularly preys. It is a habit of nearly all fishes, when 
approaching some obstruction, to swim around or along 
it for some distance rather than to try to surmount it. 
The muscallunge knows that when a school of smaller 
fishes strikes the face of this bar, they will not try to 
cross the bar or to avoid it, but will swim along the 
face of it. He simply lies there, with his two yellow, 
cold and cruel eyes looking steadilj- out for what may 
come along. He is making his living in the easiest pos- 
sible way, which is just what any wild animal or wild 
man always does. It is this habit of the muscallunge 
of lying hidden on the bar and looking out upon the 
deeper water which should give you a clue to the easiest 
method of making him your prey. 
There are two ways of angling for the muscallunge — by 
trolling with the spoon hook and by casting with the 
spoon hook or with large bait. The method of trolling is 
-the most common one, and for a long time was the most 
successful one, though to-day there are many skillful mus- 
ealhinge anglers who do not troll at all., but prefer to 
cast a large spoon, -or sometimes a spoon with a baited 
hook below it. In either case the fishing is done along 
the edges of the bars where the muscallunge are supposed 
to lie. 
We will suppose that you wish to follow the customary 
fashion of trolling for the muscallunge. You will use a 
No. 8 fluted spoon, silver and red or copper and red. 
Below this hook there may be a triple gang and a tuft 
of colored feathers, or, if you wish to be very modern 
in your not'ons of muscallunge fishing, you may perhaps 
have a single large hook wired below the spoon. Upon 
this hook you may use a piece of bait made of the gullet 
of a" wall-eyed pike or of a pickerel, of you may use 
preferably as a bait a very large minnow or a small 
sucker. Some anglers prefer the unbaited spoon, as they 
say they are then less troubled by wall-eyed pike, which 
are so apt to strike at a small bait trolling behind a 
spoon. Personally, I like to cast for muscallunge with a 
single large hook and a large bait, but sometimes I 
use a spoon above this hook. You may use your own 
judgment in these matters, as I do not wish to lay down 
any hard and fast rules for you, but simply to put you 
in the way of exercising your own intelligence. 
It IS necessary that either you or your guide, if you 
have one, should possess a knowledge of the location of 
the bars in the lake where you propose to fish. The stock 
in trade of any guide is simply his knowledge of this sort 
of country. Perhaps, to begin with, wc will do better to 
employ a guide and let him row us about the country, at 
least until we have learned the location of the bars. When 
he tells you to begin fishing, you drop overboard your 
spoon and let it troll 30 to 40 feet 1>ehind the boat, the 
motion of the boat compelling the spoon to revolve rapidly 
in the water a few inches below the surface. Your reel 
should be a large barreled double multiplier. Your line 
should be a braided silk line very much larger than you 
employed in bass fishing. Your rod should be one weigh- 
ing 8 or 10 ounces, and it should be stiff and springy, not 
over 8 or feet in length. The strain on the rod is 
considerable when you drag a big spoon through the 
water, and should you strike your fish, you need to have" 
a rod springy enough to stand very stubborn and heavy 
rushes. Two can fish from a trolling boat as well as one. 
I Avill give you the inside position, or the one nearest to 
the bar. You will notice that I let my line out much 
longer than yours, so that my spoon is 50 or 60 feet, or 
even more, back of the boat. You would think that my 
spoon would be the one most apt to catch the fish, yet this 
does not seem to be ordinarily the case. The shorter 
line and the spoon closer to the boat is the one which 
ordinarily produces the most fish. The theory of the 
guides is that as the boat passes along the bar the mus- 
callunge is frightened and starts down for deeper water, 
trying to get behind the boat. As he does so, he sees 
this small, glittering object following along after the 
boat. Why he strikes the spoon, whether in anger or in 
hunger, is something not yet answered of human wis- 
dom. Yet it is true that, if he starts to go behind the 
boat, he will first see the spoon which is closest to the 
boat. Hence, as a matter of courtesy, I give j'ou this 
choicer position, just as after awhile I would expect you 
to give it to any stranger or any guest whom you might 
have out with you in the boat. 
Do not let your line troll out too far behind the boat. 
You will find plenty of little weeds sticking up beyond the 
water, and if you have out too long a line the least little 
variation in the course of the boat will allow your spoon 
to sag, so that you will be continually afoul. Moreover, 
if you should raise a 'fish at that great distance, it would 
he hard for you to .strike and play him successfully. 
There is no set rule about the length of line. Experi- 
ment in this regard, but always keep a line short enough 
to give you control over your bait. This is a good rule 
to follow in every kind of fishing. 
Now we run along, and all at once you feel the tip of 
your rod suddenly jerked down. It felt as though you 
had struck a snag or a weed, but you have a wrench and 
a tug which shows it is a fish. You are very much ex- 
cited, for any strike on a trolling rod seems heavy at first. 
Not so with your guide. He knows that things would 
he more serious had it been a muscallunge that struck. 
"Only a wall-eye," he says, and barely stops the boat to 
allow you to recover your line and shake off the unfor- 
tunate wall-eye into the water. The wall-eyed pike is very 
numerous in these Northern muscallunge waters, and 
constitutes a great nuisance to the man who is fishing 
for the greater game fish. Still worse is the little pickerel, 
.so called, a fish rarely attaining over 3 pounds weight, yet 
exceedinly ambitious in the matter of spoon hooks. These 
"snakes," as the guides call them, are always the abomi- 
nation of muscallunge fishermen. 
Sometimes we strike three or four of these %vall-eyes, 
or "snakes," or bass, before we get into the serious busi- 
ness of the day. Then all at once you feel a tremendous 
smashing pull at your tackle, as though you had run 
afoul of a steamship or something o| ^hat kind. There is 
no mistakinor it this time, and you and the guide exclaim 
at once, "It s a 'lunge!" You need no one to advise you 
in the matter, for the way in which your line goes through 
the water and the manner in which your rod tip is drawn 
dowii below the surface is proof enough of that. I hope 
that in trolling you have been careful to keep your rod out 
over the side of the boat, close down to the water and par- 
allel with the water. If so, you now have a much better 
chance to strike and play your fish than you would have 
had the rod been held up with the tip above your head. 
In the latter case the fish in jumping would be apt to 
get a slack in the line. On the other hand, if the rod 
be kept with the tip close down to the water, the fish will 
not jump so high, and he- is more easily pulled down 
again flat upon the water and prevented from either fall- 
ing upon the line or shaking out the hook. 
The tactics of the muscalhmge in fighting the rod and 
spoon will very soon be obvious to you. You are fast 
into a good fish, as your guide informs you, and by the 
way he pulls at the rod j^ou are satisfied that he will 
weigh at least 40 pounds. Perhaps he weighs 15. He 
makes away in a long, straight line, and then, all at 
once, you see your line begin to go up. The guide in- 
forms you that the fish is going to jump, and at the same 
instant you see a great form hurled high into the air far 
to the rear of the boat. Now is the time, as I said, to 
keep your lie taut and to pull the head of the fish down 
upon the water just as fast as you can. He wants to 
throw the spoon out of his jaws, and if he jumps on a 
loose line he will shake his head so savagely that he is 
very apt to throw the spoon hook far away from his jaws. 
I have seen a spoon hook thrown in this way more than 
20 feet by a milscallunge, and once saw a spoon hook 
cast directly into the boat from the mouth of a fish 
which rose close up and shook himself free. . 
You will see your fish rise once, twice, three times — per- 
haps four times — quickly and savagely in his natural 
maneuver in the attempt to cast out the spoon. If you 
stop him in this and get his head down on the water pretty 
soon after each jumpi your fish will change his tactics, 
and instead of making these savage runs upward will 
take a long, steady run downward as deep into the water 
as he can. Your guide, if you leave the matter to him, 
will probably start at once for the middle of the lake, 
roNving rapidly and endeavoring to tow the fish after you. 
This is a favorite maneuver of the guides, and they think 
that they thus tire out the fish and drown it, as they call 
it, niore rapidly than it can be done in any other way. 
It is perhaps a safe proposition that it is desirable to 
get the fish free.from the bars as soon as possible, but this 
is as far as I can go in the way of indorsing this custom 
of towing a muscallunge out into deep water. On the 
contrary, so far from attempting to drag a muscallunge 
behind the boat, I counsel you, as soon as your fish has 
sounded, or gone down into deep water, to have your 
guide row directly to him, picking up all your line as you 
go, and keeping a smart strain all the time upon the line. 
Your fish is big and heavy, and perhaps has imbedded 
himself in the coarse growth at the bottom of the lake, so 
he will stand quite a strong strain. Get close to him, per- 
haps nearly over him, and then, by striking on the butt of 
the rod or by twitching on the line, try to drag him up 
again. When he finds that you have come directly to 
him and are forcing the fighting, he will get into a kind 
of panic. At first the embodiment of ferocious rage, he 
will now show that he is susceptible of fear like any other 
fish. His runs will be shorter and more nervous. His 
leaps will not be so high nor so frequent. At last he will 
turn up the side of his head as he comes to the surface 
and you will be able to get his head started to the boat. 
Slip the boat down to him slowly and at the same time 
reel the fish toward the 'boat carefully and delicately, 
seeing that your line is free both in guides and on the 
reel, and keeping always ready for a quick rush. As soon 
as the fish comes alongside the boat you may look for 
trouble. He may lie and glare at you with his cold yel4ow 
eye, looking as savage as you like, and yet lying as still 
as a log. Then quick as a flash he may change ends and 
roll over, going away in a long, steady run, which very 
often proves fatal to your chances if you are not looking 
for it. Keep your line free now and see that the reel 
does not clog. Just touch the barrel with your thumb and 
let it run free if the fish so desires. His run will not 
be very long and the strain on the rod will soon bring 
him around. Two or three times he may do this, until at 
last you have him close to the boat and fairly whipped. 
Then the guide reaches out with the gaff hook, strikes him 
either through the shoulders or through the gills, and 
with one long, sweeping motion pulls him up into the boat. 
Sonaetimes the guide carries a pistol, and as the fish lies 
alongside, shoots it through the' head near the eyes, thus 
stimning it, so that it can be brought into the boat with- 
out any trouble. Some consider this latter method brutal, 
though really it is more humane than impaling the fish 
upon the steel gaff. Yet other anglers prefer to stun the 
fish by a blow from a club dealt upon the head as it lies 
swinging at the mercy of the rod. This blow sometimes 
throws the spoon hook out, and it is a more risky way 
of administering the coup de grace than either of the 
ways above mentioned, After the fish is in the boat, look 
out, for it is very apt to begin its fight anew and to 
thrash about violently. A muscallunge has a nasty mouth- 
ful of teeth, and it is not safe to approach its head with 
the naked hand until one is sure that both teeth and 
head are quieted for good. 
You will observe that in killing a muscalhmge on your 
rod, which does not weigh over 8 or 10 ounces, you will 
probably occupy the best part of an hour. A 30-pound 
fish will ordinarily take from an hour to an hour and 
three-quarters to subdue, perhaps much less if you go 
directly to him and fight him savagely. It is not wise to 
urge the matter too much; but, on the other hand, the 
fight is much longer if you stay away from your fish 
and try to work him on a long line. A fish of 10 or 12 
pounds weight can be brought to boat in less than half an 
hour, sometimes in less than five minutes under proper 
circumstances. There is much difference in the fighting 
qualities of different specimens of the muscallunge. A 
fish in good flesh and good condition will, of course, put 
up a more vigorous battle than one which is lean or in 
ill sorts. 
As for the method of casting for muscallunge, you will 
oliserve that it is mwh the same as casting bait for 
bass, excepting that your reel is a little bit larger and 
your tackle a little bit heavier, the line especially being 
stronger. You row slowly along "the face of the bar and 
sweep the rod just as you do in casting for bass. Place 
your bait or your baited spoon along the edge of the bar, 
reeling it rapidly toward the boat as soon as it has struck 
the water. As you are thus fishing with a shorter line 
than that actually used in trolling, and as you therefore 
very often see the rush of the fish in striking the lure, 
you will find this form of fishing the muscallunge far 
more exciting than that of trolling. For trolling I can- 
not say that I have ever had very much favor, though it 
is a very killing way of taking the fish. Casting with 
the spoon may be called more difficult, more scientific 
and more exciting. The playing of the fish in either case 
should be the same. Keep your rod close to the water 
so long as your fish is fresh and strong. If he jumps, see 
that he does not fall on the line, and do all you can to keep 
him from shaking his head free on a slack line. If he 
starts straight for the boat, your reel cannot take in the 
line rapidly enough, and your boatman must aid you in 
keeping a tight line. In either case, just get free enough 
of the bar to afford you good fighting room. Then do 
not be afraid of your fish, but go to him and fight him 
out boldly. ' 
Muscallunge are sometimes taken by putting out large 
floats near the edge of the bars and fastening to these 
floats lines baited with good sized wall-eyed pike, suckers 
or bass. This method of set fishing once in a while will 
produce_ a big muscallunge. I cannot recommend it to 
you, as it is not properly to be classified within the limits 
of sport. 
It is probable that muscallunge in these later days have 
become more or less accustomed to the sight of the 
artificial spoon hook. At best this is a small bait, or 
would if it were alive be a small bit of food for so large a 
fish as the muscallunge. Perhaps the constant trolling 
nround the lakes has taken half the attraction from this 
sort of lure. Really, if the muscallunge wishes to do 
so, he can take very large bait. A 20 or 30 pound mus- 
callunge can swallow a 3 or 4 pound bass if he likes. 
Very fine bass, wall-eyed pike or Great Northern pike 
have been taken, showing on their .shoulders and sides the 
deep scars made by the teeth of the muscallunge. ' It 
is probable that the largest muscallunge could be taken 
by using very large bait, fishes weighing perhaps 2 or 3 
pounds at least._ Of course, in trolling or in casting, such 
large baits are impracticable. In casting one must use a 
minnow weighing at most only a few ounces. Yet this 
minnow, when arranged back of a spoon hook, makes the 
appearance, on the whole, of a rather large bait, and as 
stich it appeals to the appetite of this insatiable fish. He 
rushes at it perhaps purely in anger, and perhaps be- 
cause he wishes something to eat. The rest of it depends 
upon your own coolness and steadiness. 
I want to counsel you, while fishing for muscallunge, 
not to get excited and fall out of the boat, for such a 
mishap might be serious to yourself and to your friendb.. 
It is the part of the sportsman to keep his nerve with him, 
to be always steady and not excited. The rush and the 
spring of the muscallunge are things calculated to try 
the nerves of the nervous. It is this excitement, this 
eleinent of chance, which gives you the sport. I would not 
have you impassive or apethetic, if that were possible, but 
I would counsel you in this line of fishing, as in all others, 
to be master of yourself, and in this way you will best 
"learn to be master of the creature which you are pursuing. 
In the summer time the lakes of Wisconsin and Minne- 
sota become impregnated with a light milky substance 
known as the "bloom," which is no doubt composed of 
the pollen of certain aquatic plants. When the water is 
in this condition fish commonly do not bite very well. 
Most people think that this "bloom" is the reason why 
muscallunge do not rise to the spoon. Other fishermen 
point out, with much greater likelihood of truth, that the 
reason the muscallunge does not rise freely in midsummer 
is that at that season of the year he sheds his teeth. 
That he does so shed his teeth is certainly the case, and 
it is natural to suppose that during the shedding season 
he would be somewhat off his feed. This is perhaps the 
greatest reason why the midsummer months are the 
poorest for muscallunge fishing. June is perhaps the best 
month, or at least the one which is the most popular. Late 
in the fall— in October or even early in November — is a 
very good time to fish for muscallunge, and it is in the 
fall that often the largest specimens are taken. The 
weather is not so pleasant then, but the fish seem to strike 
the spoon better than they do during the warmer times of 
the late spring. 
I have only one parting word of advice to you, as you- 
set out for yoiSr adventures with the giant pike of Amer- 
ica — that is, when you go muscallunge fishing, leave your 
gun at home. There are deer in the summer time along 
nearly all the better muscallunge lakes of our Northern 
States. The temptation to shoot a deer out of season 
should not be allowed to overcome you. You do not need 
a gun to kill muscallunge, nor do you need it to kill a 
deer. Leave it at home. Take an extra rod, an extra 
line or so, and a dozen spoons ranging in size from No, 6 
to No. 8. Learn your own angling grounds as soon as, 
you can and do not leave everything to your guide, a.s 
is the habit of, a great many sportsmen. The guide is in 
the business not purely as a matter of pleasure. The 
best feature of sport is that it develops one's own re- 
sources and cultivates his own self-reliance. I must 
ask you,' therefore, in your investigations of the mus- 
callunge, to get your knowledge at first hand, and to 
apply it then as advantageously as you are able. 
^ W. G. De Groot. 
Massachttsetts Lobstet Veto Stands. 
Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Associa- 
tion, Boston, April 23. — Editor Forest and Stream: Your 
readers Avill be glad to be inform.ed that both the 9-inch 
lobster bill and the other to permit mutilation of lobsters 
have been defeated by the interposition of Governor 
Crane. The attempt made yesterday to pass the bills over 
the • Governor's veto was unsuccessful. In the House 
the vote was 50 in favor of passing the bill over the veto 
to 127 against, and in the Senate it was 8 to 19. 
The Massachusetts Association has won another vic- 
tory. In 1896 the 9-iilch lobster bill was vetoed by Gov- 
ernor Wol^ott- Henry 1^, Kis^ball, 
