FOREST AND STREAM 
807 
Map of the Leech Lake Region, Showing Best Fishing Spots. 
ticable, to carry all his impedimenta with him in 
the Pullman car, even if by so doing he causes 
inconvenience to both the traveling public and 
himself; for the failure of railroad companies 
to transport baggage promptly is by no means 
an uncommon occurrence. On several other oc¬ 
casions I have had an outing partially spoiled in 
this way. It is exceedingly exasperating and pro¬ 
ductive of strong language when dealing with 
railway officials. 
Our trip to Bear Island was made in the motor 
boat of Alec Alexander, a very pleasant, accom¬ 
modating, and agreeable guide. He took half a 
dozen skiffs in tow, leaving most of his passen¬ 
gers at the south end of Bear Island and pro¬ 
ceeding with the remainder to their summer resi¬ 
dence near the mouth of Boy River. 
We started fishing about 10:30, Russell and I 
with Silas Swim, the boatman, universally known 
as “Si” occupying one skiff, which by the way 
was a trifle small for two heavy fishermen. For¬ 
tunately, though, Si is a light weight, which tend¬ 
ed to reduce somewhat the overload. 
As a boatman Si cannot be beaten at Leech 
Lake—or, for that matter, anywhere else that I 
have ever fished. I had him every one of the 
thirteen days that I spent at the lake; and in 
all that time he never uttered an unpleasant word, 
and he was just as interested in the catch as the 
fishermen themselves. When he failed to take in 
a fish that one of us had brought to his reach, 
he was far more disgusted than the disappointed 
fisherman. He never once complained of the 
hard work, although the hours we spent on the 
water daily were from twelve to fourteen, and 
notwithstanding the fact that the wind was often 
strong and the waves occasionally high. He 
knows his business thoroughly, and can locate 
with great accuracy the best fishing grounds for 
the varying conditions of season and weather. 
He is a good oarsman, and, although properly 
prudent, it is not afraid to face a storm when it 
becomes necessary to do so. He is strictly hon¬ 
est in all his dealings, and would not pilfer any¬ 
thing, even to a fish-hook. As not all of the 
other boatmen of Walker have his perfections, 
any sportsman who secures his services may 
deem himself fortunate. Chris Swansson, the 
boat-builder, who occasionally takes out sports¬ 
men in one of his 18 foot skiffs with motor at¬ 
tachment, is also in every particular an excellent 
guide and oarsman. He employs power for 
traveling to and from the fishing grounds, but 
rows for the fishing. His charge per day for 
personal services and the use of his boat is $5 
while Si asks $3 for himself and his skiff. By 
employing them both, three or even four sports¬ 
men can fish at very reasonable expense. The 
outboard motor, under favorable conditions, can 
propel its boat some seven or eight miles per 
hour, but with a skiff in tow only five or six 
miles per hour. On that account it is best not 
to use such an outfit when going to fishing 
grounds more than twelve or at the very most 
fifteen miles distant from the starting point, -but 
to charter instead a real motor boat that can 
make ten miles per hour with a string of skiffs 
astern. There are a few boats on the lake that 
can make considerably better time than even 
this, but they are too fast for the tows, which 
the high speed is liable to swamp. With the out¬ 
board combination we found it practicable to go 
to Otter Tail Point or Stoney Point, but no 
further, for with a head wind and a towed skiff 
the progress was slow. 
But to return to the fishing at the south end 
of Bear Island—all the skiffs had fair luck in 
the forenoon, then we met for lunch a little 
after twelve. As there were two ladies in the 
party, it was an especially pleasant one. Alec 
had gone to the trouble of taking along a large 
plank table which he had left at the luncheon 
ground before proceeding on his voyage. The 
fare provided by the hotel is excellent, 
After luncheon fishing was resumed, and 
everybody seemed satisfied with his catch. Rus¬ 
sell and I together landed between 40 and 50 fish, 
my biggest being an eight pounder and his one 
that weighed nearly fifteen pounds. They were 
the great northern pike, commonly called pick¬ 
erel. 
There is a difference between the two fishes 
that is hard to determine. The great northern 
pike is a hard fighter; and pound for pound it is 
probably as game as the muscallonge. It is 
known to attain as great a weight as forty 
pounds, and there are unconfirmed rumors of 
still heavier specimens—most of which, of course, 
escaped capture. The largest I ever caught was 
a twenty pounder, but I once saw one that 
weighed thirty-two pounds. Curiously enough, 
there was hanging alongside of it a thirty-two 
pound muscallonge, together with several other 
large fish of both species. That catch, with 
which, by the way, I was in no wise concerned, 
afforded me a rare opportunitv to contrast these 
two fine fishes. If I remember correctly, the 
great northern pike was the darker of the two, 
the lengths for fishes of the same weight were 
about alike, the general outlines varied slightly, 
and there was a difference in the shape of the 
head and the distribution of the teeth. As I am 
speaking of something that occurred some two 
decades ago, I cannot vouch absolutely for the 
correctness of my recollections. Perhaps some 
of your readers will be good enough to provide 
more reliable information on this point. 
But to return to the difference between the 
pickerel and the great northern pike—my experi¬ 
ence leads me to believe that the former is 
darker and somewhat longer for the same weight 
than the latter and is by no means as gamey. 
Ordinarily, I understand, the true pickerel sel¬ 
dom exceeds three pounds in weight, although 
there are said to be records of ten pounders. 
Here again some further information from your 
readers would be appreciated by the fishing fra¬ 
ternity. 
Our catch the first day was pretty equally di¬ 
vided between great northern pike and the wall¬ 
eyed pike; and this ratio held good for most of 
the days that I spent on the lake. By choosing 
the ground and the manner of fishing one can 
readily alter the said ratio; for by trolling in 
deep water close to the bottom one catches most¬ 
ly wall-eyes, and by fishing in shallower water 
and close to the weed beds the great northern 
mainly are taken. Occasionally one catches a 
yellow perch; and some of these are quite large. 
I took one that tipped the scale at two pounds. 
There are certain places on the lake well known 
among the boatmen where the perch are numer- 
(Continued on page 824.) 
