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FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 3, 1906. 
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AMD MWK ffiMDME 
. .. .- 
The Chautauqua Maskinonge. 
The Chautauqua maskinonge is of a species 
quite distinct from that of the St. Lawrence and 
the Great Lakes. It is identical with those of 
Minnesota and Wisconsin; then through Cone- 
wango creek, which drains Chautauqua lake, the 
fish gets into a comparatively small area of the 
Ohio valley. It is not mentioned in the volumes 
on game fish of Brown, Goode, Roosevelt, Genio 
Scott or Dr. Henshall. Hornaday’s natural his¬ 
tory briefly describes it. All the above writers 
seem to differ widely in their estimation of the 
maskinonge in the St. Lawrence, but our own 
Western anglers (who know it best) are loud 
in praise of its every virtue, its edible qualities, 
its splendid courage and magnificent form. 
My own personal experience is as yet con¬ 
fined to the Chautauqua species—and I may have 
been unusually fortunate, but every fish I caught 
showed a decidedly different way of resisting 
capture. Each one leaped from the water one 
or more times, using the same trick so often dis¬ 
played by the bass; that is, sulking at the bottom 
and tugging hard in turns, then suddenly shoot¬ 
ing up from the water in a cloud of spray. Its 
appearance when leaping from the silver surface 
is a splendid form of glistening gold. 
The salmon is king, writers claim. Then the 
maskinonge is emperor of all the landlocked seas. 
In bravery, beauty and bigness he has no peer. 
He is equal, if not superior from every stand¬ 
point to the lordly salmon, provided he be angled 
for with similar tackle. Salmon fishing with flies 
is the very poetry of angling; “striking a ’lunge” 
with one or more treble hooks and brass wire 
attachments is the tragedy of angling. Yet withal, 
from the moment he strikes to the time he lies 
still at the bottom of the boat, the maskinonge 
is a veritable demon. 
Of course the three principal members of the 
Esox family, the maskinonge is by ^ar superior 
from every ■ standpoint to the pike and pickerel. 
Its flesh is more delicious. In fighting qualities 
it is beyond compare, in that the pike, however 
large, never leaps from the water when hooked. 
The ’lunge, both large and small, will leap 
once if not more before he is brought to gaff; 
indeed, it often doubles its long body, vainly try¬ 
ing with its tail to slap the offending hook from 
its jaws. The accompanying drawing of three 
heads, done from a 30-pound maskinonge, 12- 
pound pike and 4-poutid pickerel, shows that each 
species can readily be distinguished, though the 
body markings are sufficient to identify each kind, 
for i*n both color and markings there is a decided 
difference. The pike has light yellowish elon¬ 
gated spots on a dark greenish brown. The 
Chautauqua maskinonge has its back of a dark 
rich brown with golden scales, sides bright green 
and yellow, the belly pure white, having irregu¬ 
lar bars running down from the back. The St. 
Lawrence maskinonge has a dark brown back 
wfith sides of grayish-green spotted in black. The 
pickerel has dark green chain-like markings run¬ 
ning along the body on a ground of green, though 
pike vary in coloring just as much as bass and trout. 
The most characteristic habit of the maskinonge 
is to lie alone, hidden among the long grasses and 
weeds. There in ambush he awaits the passing 
of other fish (his own kind included). Then he 
will suddenly leap upon his prey. Nothing es¬ 
capes him, for his jaw is furnished with rows of 
razor-like teeth, together with huge tusks, which 
when brought together will snap a fish in two 
like the blades of giant shears. Built for speed, 
with long sharp nose and broad flanged tail, from 
eye to tail-fork a mass of muscle, with the ap¬ 
petite of a wolf, the cunning and rapacity of a 
tiger, with slyness, patience and unbounded 
courage, he is one of the most formidable finned 
things in the waters of the earth. He will allow 
no other fish to remain within sight, even those 
of his own kind. Some years ago one of the 
local anglers on Chautauqua lake caught a ’lunge 
of fifty pounds. In the stomach was found 
another maskinonge partly digested which 
weighed 4(4 pounds. The big one was a female 
and her victim a male. 
On a recent trip to Chautauqua, at my first 
strike, the fish leaped from the water, taking the 
spoon gingerly; yet the hook held for him to 
run one hundred feet and to be reeled in a short 
distance, when he again rose and got away. 
Being sufficiently old in angling experience, the 
incident gave a few points of instruction how 
to act, yet every fish taken showed entirely dif¬ 
ferent tactics, convincing me that years of ex¬ 
perience are required to thoroughly handle a 
game fish so renowned. 
Anglers from eastern cities would do well to 
vary their sport from trout fishing and make a 
visit to Chautauqua, with headquarters at Bemus 
Point. ’Lunge are not caught like a string of 
pickerel. One or two, perhaps three, landed after 
half a dozen strikes will be an excellent day’s 
sport. If one of the fish weighs over 16 pounds, 
the angler of the stoutest heart will not be too 
hungry for one of 30 or 40 pounds. Should he 
strike one such, every condition must be favorable 
(in legitimate fishing) for with a stout rod not 
too long, a line fine but strong, a spoon of reason¬ 
able size, a gaff with a well made handle about 
three feet long—then be prepared for a lively 
tussle lasting from twenty minutes to two hours. 
Much depends on how the ’lunge is hooked. 
Should the angler be unfamiliar with methods, 
it is advisable to have an oarsman at first who 
will soon initiate him. My experience is that 
live or artificial minnows are not taken till fall, 
and that spoons of different shapes and sizes are 
used with success in the early part of the sea¬ 
son. I tried various lures, but it was spoons they 
took. 
My first success came on a luminous tandem, 
smaller than maskinonge spoons, and a good lure, 
close, compact, and the triangle hook well covered 
with feathers. I was requested by Mr. Brown, 
the superintendent of the state hatchery at Bemus 
Point, to try a spoon made by a local expert angler, 
and found its merits deserved, so that other lures 
were scarcely used. Instead of the customary 
triangle, it has a powerful double hook, curving 
downward and ingeniously covered with bucktail, 
a red feather on each side, and just a touch of 
peacock’s feather to give brightness. The spoon 
is made of brass, copper, steel and gold. 
The mode of fishing practiced by local anglers 
and guides is to troll with rods placed in sockets 
on each side of the boat, and two hand-lines 
worked closer in toward the boat, so that four 
spoons at varying distances require attention 
nearly all the time. Working as they do toward 
and in the weeds, better success is likely to ensue, 
though added trouble is caused by reason of 
snags. In trolling,-a noiseless boat is necessary, 
even and regular rowing. One trip over a strip 
of water is no criterion of its possibilities. A 
day’s patient fishing in one place is surest, for 
the maskinonge is a swiftly moving fish. In the 
clear water the lure is visible at least fifty feet 
away. Always on the lookout, he is poised with 
gently waving fins. The moment he sees it, wfih 
a sudden sweep of his tail, he darts upon the 
lure, For a second he remains motionless, then 
leaps into the air to free himself; doubles, stops 
suddenly, the water eddying and swirling; snaps 
his jaws together; tries'again with his tail to 
tear out the ugly thing, then rushes madly away, 
the reel screaming and the red bending nearly 
double. He knows escape is doubtful unless he 
can entangle himself in the weeds; but if the 
angler is a master hand the fish is powerless and 
he is gradually brought nearer. Sullen, ex¬ 
hausted and conquered, he lies motionless beside 
the boat, and then the angler gaffs him. With 
the same stroke he is lifted into the boat and 
dispatched at once. Some western anglers dis¬ 
pense with the gaff, using a revolver to send a 
bullet through his head. 
Maskinonge have been taken that were literally 
crammed with fishes of various sizes and kinds, 
showing they were not hungry. The number of 
fishes swallowed during a single summer is almost 
incredible. They are not minnows and small fry 
only, but large enough to reproduce their kind. 
In rowing over the lake I have seen many good 
sized fish floating on the surface, not yet dead, 
with great gashes and pieces of flesh torn off, 
telling of slaughter among the smaller fishes, 
which are constantly leaping from the water in 
terror of this formidable foe. 
The fish is fairly abundant in Chautauqua lake. 
This is due to the efforts of the state hatchery 
at Bemus Point. They have distributed over 
6,000,000 fry this season. In the early spring the 
wardens net some of the large fish, stripping the 
spawn, and put the fish back. In due course the 
fry are placed among the heavy weeds, where 
they soon grow, as the water is rich in living 
food matter of every descripton. Part of the 
fry are planted in distant waters, so that the 
supply of this noble game fish is not likely to 
be curtailed. 
During my visit the largest fish caught weighed 
36 pounds, though later on in the fall fish are 
now and then taken up to 50 pounds. 
Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, New York state fish 
culturist, when questioned regarding the artificial 
culture of Chautauqua maskinonge, in preference 
to the spotted St. Lawrence variety, states the 
latter is undeniably inferior in edible as well as 
fighting qualities, being firmly and more widely 
established, it is not necessary to rear them. 
The most important thing so far as the angler 
is concerned, is,that good sport be available, easy 
of access, at reasonable cost now that salmon fish¬ 
ing is, or soon will be, confined to a limited class 
of ample means. Thus maskinonge fills this want 
—if only the angler could be persuaded to raise 
the standard of fishing to a more sportsman¬ 
like view—by- using tackle within reason, and be 
content to handle a single rod and lure instead 
of trailing behind the boat half a dozen monster 
spoons which surely must drive game fish away 
instead of luring them. Only then will angling 
for maskinonge be ligitimate sport. 
Louis Rhead. 
The Big One that Got Away. 
National Military Home, Ohio. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: The big fish which got 
away was caught in our reservoir to-day, the 
first one on record recaptured. 
Our champion angler was fishing for bass and 
caught a small one, then rebaited bis hook with 
a lively minnow and made another cast, when, 
in his own words, there was a rush of the big 
fish for the bait, the' quick pull to fasten hook, 
the broken line, and the oft-told story repeated— 
the fish got away with part of line and float 
attached. " The float indicated the motions and 
position of the fish as he tried to get rid of the 
hook, and many anglers and friends of the un¬ 
fortunate fisherman offered suggestions and 
helped to recapture the struggling bass, one 
offering to carry a skiff from an adjoining lake 
and go out after him. Finally the fish ap¬ 
proached the shore near enough to cast a line 
over him and fasten in the broken line. T he 
crowd on shore awaited the result with excited, 
eager attention as the fish was brought to net 
and safely landed. When weighed the indicator 
pointed to six ounces. 
Charles Carroll. 
