Vol. XCIII 
SEPTEMBER, 1923 
No. 9 
THE MASCALONGE 
The Giant Leaping Pike 
of American Waters 
WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY LOUIS RHEAD 
I N that admirable book on 
“Pike and Perch,” in “Fur, 
Feather, and Fin” Series, 
Mr, William Senior gives an en¬ 
tertaining account in a chapter 
headed “Some Foreign Rela¬ 
tions,” how he captured on light 
tackle a twenty - four - pound 
mascalonge in a small lake 
somewhere in Canada; how it 
gave “a glorious battle of golden 
aerial somersaults that made a merry 
half-hour between the first leap and the 
end,” My great regret is that he could 
not find the opportunity to try his 
veteran hand in some of the waters of 
the Great Lakes region, where this fish 
is most abundant 
and of fair size, to 
capture a fish 
worthy of his skill. 
That fish weighing 
up to fifty pounds 
are to be caught, I 
know; that they 
are gamey every¬ 
one knows who has 
tried conclusions 
with them. With¬ 
out question the 
mascalonge is a 
fresh - water game 
fish of the highest 
rank, both as to 
size, strength, and 
endurance in re¬ 
sisting capture. It 
is the largest mem¬ 
ber of the “Esox” 
family. There are 
two species, the 
spotted mascalonge 
(Lucius masquin- 
°ngy) and the un¬ 
September, with its clear, cool days, spreads 
a mantle of charm over the lakes and rivers 
of the North Country. . . . The mascalonge, 
splendid fighter that he is, is then at his best. 
In this article Louis Rhead, master angler 
and student of the mascalonge, tells in word 
and picture the things about this great game 
fish that no reader should miss. 
spotted mascalonge (Lucius ohiensis). 
The latter inhabits the Ohio River 
drainage system, and is most plentiful 
in the Chautauqua Lake. The spotted 
mascalonge is abundant in the St. 
Lawrence, the Great Lake region, and 
Page 483 
A THIRTY-EIGHT-POUND SPOTTED MASCALONGE OF THE ST. LAWRENCE 
Northern Canada. The masca¬ 
longe grows to a length of 
seven and a half feet, and at¬ 
tains a maximum weight of 
one hundred pounds. To cap¬ 
ture such a prize on sports¬ 
manlike tackle requires a 
struggle both hard and long. 
Its Indian name is spelled in 
nine different ways, but it is 
most familiar in the United 
States as the “Musky” and in Canada 
as the Lunge.” The fish is nowhere 
plentiful, partly because of its well- 
known cannibalistic traits, and also 
owing to the fact that it so savagely 
responds to the angler’s lures. It is 
fortunate, there¬ 
fore, that the 
mascalonge is a 
prolific fish, large 
females yielding 
60,000 eggs; and 
as the experiments 
in artificial propa¬ 
gation have been 
crowned with suc¬ 
cess at the Chau¬ 
tauqua hatchery, 
the fish in the 
future will doubt¬ 
less be more abun¬ 
dant. It is the 
Western anglers 
who are most inti¬ 
mate with this 
fish, and they are 
loudest in its 
praise. The re¬ 
markable lures in 
use to capture it 
both as to size and 
character, would 
surprise the aver- 
