October, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
543 
THE KING OF OUR INLAND WATERS 
THE VIGOROUS AND PUGNACIOUS CHARACTER OF THE MUSKELLUNGE IS SUCH THAT IT 
PROSPERS AND BECOMES PLENTIFUL IN STREAMS NEAR THICKLY POPULATED COMMUNITIES 
By BEN C. ROBINSON 
W EST of the waters that flow into 
the eastern seaboard there is a 
wide country of deep rivers and 
crystal lakes, shaded by the maple and 
the basswood and fanned by the winds 
that are freshly fragrant of the western 
sunflower and the wheat fields. The land 
of the mid-west, drained by the Father 
of Waters, is also the land of a host of 
anglers who are doing a great share of 
the scientific fishing of today. It contains 
some of the most up-to-date casting 
clubs, angling fraternities and all around 
devotees of the sport piscatorial the coun- 
try can boast of. In the waters of this 
section are many of the specimens which 
have come to make the sport of angling 
what it is, but there is one in particular 
in this region which holds a place second 
to none — the muskellunge. It is the king 
of the region and here holds forth in 
numbers and sizes which serve to satisfy 
the requirements of the most exacting. 
In that wide area west of the Alle- 
gheny Mountains the muskellunge has 
achieved a fame that will last as long as 
men take to the streams and the lakes 
with rod and reel. He is the fish para- 
mount of the mid-west today and tomor- 
row and for all time to come. Men are 
fishing today and taking a delight in the 
sport that hertofore has not been relish- 
able to them. 
Muskellunge are down there in those 
rivers and lakes, and they are just as 
keen for trouble as 
anywhere else in 
this little old fish- 
ing country of 
ours. I have been 1 
so fortunate as to 
get tied up with 
some of them in 
the Central States 
— and what is bet- 
ter yet, I have 
landed my share of 
the pugnacious and 
game old battlers 
of the lily pads and 
the boulder drifts 
that seem to dream 
so quietly under 
the summer sun 
and the frost of 
the early autumn. 
T H E muskel- 
lunge of the 
Ohio Drain- 
age is, generally 
speaking, the same 
fish as we are in the habit of angling 
for in the lakes and streams of the 
north woods. So far as size and mark- 
ings are concerned, the characteristics in 
the types are the same, the habits are 
also similar — in fact, if there is any dif- 
ference, it is so slight that it is not wor- 
thy of remark. And the most remarkable 
phase of all is the fact that the muskie 
of this section is each year increasing in 
numbers. Streams that were only men- 
tionable because of an occasional speci- 
men having been taken from them a few 
years ago are now considered to be good 
territory for the fish. The vigorous and 
pugnacious character of the fish makes it 
one that prospers and waxes plentiful in 
streams of a thickly populated commu- 
nity. Even with all the factory and mine 
conditions that are found to exist in 
those parts where this fish is mostly 
found, it continues to not only hold its 
own but to actually increase in numbers. 
The small per cent, of acid and polution 
which in so many cases proves fatal to 
the bass, perch and the trout will have 
little or no bad effect on the muskellunge. 
It is a fish of wonderful vitality and 
well fitted for streams inside the circles 
of civilization. 
In looking over some old files not long 
ago I was arrested by a sentence by a 
well-known authority upon such matters, 
which dealt with the fish of the Ohio 
Valley. He said there were a few of the 
species, Esox nobilor, scattered about but 
he had, after an exhaustive attempt, only 
managed to procure one head. Well, this 
man was right. At the time of his article 
there was, as I have previously stated, 
no great amount of muskellunge in the 
section. I have at last come to firmly 
believe, regardless of the popular opinion 
to the contrary, that the fish is not of 
foreign egress, but it was not so preva- 
lent as it is today and no doubt had one, 
not acquainted with the localities which 
they frequent, attempted to procure a 
specimen he would have assumed no little 
task. But even so I am led to believe 
that had this author of whom I speak 
been more thoroughly acquainted with 
the section he would have had no trouble 
in landing one, had he taken the time 
and the proper tackle, and had gone out 
where the old gentlemen stay. 
In an article by another writer I came 
across a note dealing with the same fish. 
This man mentioned the kinds of tackle 
used in taking the fish and the customary 
procedure that was in vogue among the lo- 
cal anglers who fished for the muskellunge. 
It was rather humorous to imagine the 
modern angler of the Ohio-Drainage Basin 
taking his fish in the manner described 
by him. The days of the hickory pole, 
the hand line and the trolling system are 
pretty well gone. The muskellunge is not 
angled for in that manner any longer! 
He is taken, as all game and worthy fish 
should be taken, on 
light tackle, com- 
paratively speak- 
ing, and by the 
most up-to-date 
angling methods. 
It is no unusual 
occurrence to find 
men in the section 
I am dealing with 
who can show a 
record of three or 
more large muskel- 
lunge in one day. 
Fish of record- 
breaking size and 
weight are regis- 
tered every season ; 
weights ranging 
from fifteen to for- 
ty popnds are not 
at all unusual. 1 
personally know of 
one muskie that is 
yet to be taken 
from his home in 
the deep water 
One day’s catch of muskellunge from an Ohio stream 
