806 
FOREST AND STREAM 
The Wall-Eyed Pike (Stizostedion Vitreum). 
With the Bass and 
Pike of Leech Lake 
in Minnesota 
One of Forest and Stream’s Favorite Contributors Tells of a Vacation Spot Where the Angler May Revel 
In the Best of Sport 
By J. A. L. Waddell. 
T is a long time since you have 
published anything of my writ¬ 
ing. My professional work 
having steadily become more 
exacting and absorbing, I have 
had but little time for sport. 
I shall proceed to give your 
readers a short description of a 
fishing trip of mine this season at Leech Lake, 
Minn., where my old friend and sporting com¬ 
panion, Mr. L. D. H. Russell of Kansas City, had 
been spending a month or more. Early in July 
I had promised to join him, if I could arrange 
to get away, and he had written me to the effect 
that the fishing was fine; consequently, soon 
after the first of August I took train for Walker, 
which, as can be seen from the accompanying 
map, is located about five miles to the north¬ 
ward of the extreme south end of Leech Lake. 
This is quite an accurate map, the small squares 
thereon representing miles. - For many years 
there has been a tradition to the effect that the 
shore line of the lake and its islands totals some 
five hundred miles; but a study of the map shows 
this to be a fallacy, for a rough scaling indi¬ 
cates somewhat less than two hundred miles, al¬ 
lowing liberally for the general irregularity of 
the shore. 
The usual depth of water is from ten to fif¬ 
teen feet, although there are said to be several 
very deep places, in a few instances over one 
hundred feet. It is this unusually large area of 
shoal water that makes the fishing so good, be¬ 
cause the fish of the lakes in Minnesota, Wiscon¬ 
sin and Canada frequent the shallows where the 
weedy bottom affords food for both themselves 
and their prey. 
There are some curious facts about the fish¬ 
ing in the Minnesota lakes—in truth the same 
remark will apply also to that of lakes in other 
states and provinces—for in one chain of lakes 
there will be found only two or three kinds of 
fish, while in a near-by chain there will be other 
kinds. Very few lakes contain all the kinds that 
are to be found in the district in which they are 
situated. For instance, two decades ago the El¬ 
bow-Mantrap chain of half a dozen lakes con¬ 
tained only, as far as I could ascertain, muscal- 
longe, yellow perch, and rock-bass, while in the 
neighboring Crow Wing chain were found black 
bass, rock bass, pickerel, wall-eyed pike, great 
northern pike, croppies, and, unless I am mis¬ 
taken, pumpkin-seeds and blue-gill sunfish, but 
no muscallonge. Again, a small land-locked lake 
over the divide from the eleventh Crow Wing 
lake had in it an immense number of one-pound 
small-mouth bass and nothing else, unless it were 
a few rock bass. Some seven years ago, I am 
told, the Elbow-Mantrap waters were stocked 
with large-mouth black bass, which have thriven 
well and which apparently are killing off the 
muscallonge, presumably by eating the fry or the 
eggs. In Leech Lake (so named from the great 
number of large leeches that used to infest it, 
and of which there exist still quite a number) 
one finds the great northern pike, the wall-eyed 
pike, the yellow perch, and the rock bass, all of 
which are taken with the rod, besides the white- 
fish and the tulaby, which are obtained only by 
netting. Occasionally a muscallonge is caught 
by trolling-spoon, and in winter a few are 
speared through the ice. The latter fish are near¬ 
ly always large, thirty pounds being an ordinary 
size, and some specimens reaching the limit of 
forty-five pounds. It is said that occasionally a 
few black bass are caught in the lake, and that 
there are some mud-cat and eel-pouts. When I 
was there we encountered every day a number 
of dead fish on the surface, consisting mainly of 
tulaby or white-fish with once in a while an eel- 
pout or a wall-eyed pike. No one could prop¬ 
erly account for the large numbers of dead fish. 
Some said they thought the Indians killed them 
in their nets; but there was very little netting 
being done when I was there—in fact, I was al¬ 
ways on the lookout for Indians with white-fish 
to sell, but could find none. 
The tulaby, I think, is elsewhere called the 
“cisco,” although the few of the latter that I 
used to run across in times past appeared smaller 
than the Leech Lake tulaby. It is said that this 
fish is inferior in flavor to the white fish and is 
very full of bones. 
Why there are not more muscallonge and black 
bass in the lake is a puzzle to me, for there are 
plenty in some of the waters that connect there¬ 
with. 
Upon my arrival at Walker at 5 P. M. on 
Tuesday, August 2, much to my disgust, I found 
that my dunnage bag, which I had checked 
through from Kansas City, did not come in on 
my train—and in truth I did not get it till thirty- 
six hours later. As it contained all my outing 
clothes, my slicker, and practically all my para¬ 
phernalia, excepting toilet articles and fishing 
tackle, I was in a bad way. I had the choice 
between losing a day’s sport or borrowing cloth¬ 
ing. By adopting the latter method and pur¬ 
chasing a few articles I was able to join a party 
bound for Bear Island without detaining them 
more than a few minutes. 
While on the subject of delayed baggage, I 
would state for the benefit of my fellow sports¬ 
men that it is far better for one, if it be prac- 
