through the ‘ ‘ jams of the Dells, ’ ’ would guess that the little
stream we cross aud recross two hundred miles above is the same
Wisconsin
It is a most delightful ride. One hundred and fifty miles of
almost unbroken forest has been passed through, and now we are
in the heart of the northern woods. The odor of pine and tamarac
fills the air, and the lake is beautifully calm and still, as the sun
pours down warming and cheering the delicious atmosphere of the
perfect autumn day.
But to my fish story. Kewaugausaga, like all the other big
ponds in this State of lakes, abounds in bass and muscallonge,
protected from the severe northern winters by a blanket of ice and
snow six feet thick.
Brown and I had been sent to Minocqua to attend a small affair
in connection with the extension of the line to Star Take, which
was then being constructed, aud we expected to spend a day or
two in the woods. Unexpectedly and unfortunately we found at
the Minocqua station the engineer in charge of the work, aud in
a half hour’s time we had nothing to prevent our going back on
the next train, which left in two hours,
Of course we would fish, and fish we did. Hastily procuring a
boat and some tackle and bait we rowed out to the geographical
centre of the lake, as nearly as we could determine that point
without a survey, baited our hooks with live minnows and dropped
them in.
Neither of us had ever done any lake fishing, and we hadn’t
the least idea of what we might expect to look with greedy eyes
upon our bait.
The old fishermen who owned our boat had looked at us with
a pitying sort of superiority, duly tempered with deference to our
“store clothes,’’ but, mindful of his own interests, he held his
peace. Suddenly up came Brown’s rod with a tremendous whirr.
We had been fishing only a few minutes, and this luck was con
sidered a great piece of common good fortune. It was a baby
muscallonge, about six inches long.
Throwing it into the bottom of the boat, Brown dropped in his
hook again, and in less than two minutes he pulled out another
fish a full inch longer than the first. I was getting envious, for
I hadn’t had the suggestion of a nibble. And when Brown
pulled out his third, a whole foot long, with a dry meaningless
remark about fishermen and fishermen, I began to get desperate.
The Free Lance ,
[December,