Show d JD v Y wS A MONSTER MUS MUSKELLUNGE Fierce Pierce Encounter In northern Wis Win Wisconsin Waters Chicago Inter Intel Ocean When the little bald stenographer got sot back from rom Ws his vacation his face was brick red r d and flecked necked with patches of peeling skin Just getting over the scarlet lever fever remarked the blond clerk Ill tell you ou said the other as he be opened his desk Tye re had bad the greatest holiday that ever happened He flicked two weeks dust dut from his typewriter keys You know I was born in the country We knew that from the first said sald the bunch in a chorus Well Wen you get chesty it if you do hit the mark once in a while re retorted retorted retorted the little mUe bald one He slipped on his office coat tuck stuck a n sheet of paper In the machine wrote ily My Dear Sir whirled around in his chair and said cold BaldI I My wife and the kids you know are summering In Wisconsin in the j northern part of the state I was born In A fl little village not far tar from where they are so 50 the other day I said Bald to my oldest boy How Hon would you like to go out and andee andI I see ee the where I was born bornI The natal associations seem I tn present much charm but the pisca piscatorial pIscatorial piscatorial proposition appealed to him and away we went sans rod ro sans hook sans line sans everything except the lunch Well Veil when we vre got to the village C I 1 hunted up Jim Curtis an old chum and told him I wanted a boat and tackle I that the boy and I were out for a fish Good he says lays my boat the biggest one at the foot toot of the elms by the bridge Heres the key ley You Youcan Youcan Youcan can have ha ye the boat all day and wel welcome welcome welcome come and heres here a couple of rods and anda a IJ trolling line and If It you want min minnows minnows flows as you will heres a net and a acan acan acan can and you ou and the boy can catch em emin emin emin in the creek Same old creek he says and just in the same place as ae when you yap was a boy Then the boy and I went up the road to the creek I left my m hat and coat and shoes and socks on a stump and rolled up my trousers and waded In and pushed the net neta a aHat tint Hat affair like a baking board ahead of or me and when 1 I came to a little rapid at the end of the pool I lifted the thenet thenet thenet net and carried it to the bank with more than a dozen lively leaping wrig wriggling w rig gUn gling shining silver minnows in it 11 the very yeT best bait for bass and pickerel that over went on a hook The boy bOJ capered with delight Say youre a great dad he lie called out as he marched matched along with the can while I played every pool I and pulled out the minnows by the i score And just then the net struck a snag on the bottom which was w s clay cia and my heels went from tram under me and I sat 1 down up to my collar in over two feet teet i of muddy dy water Then the boy howled and ran around among the buttercups and daisies and finally lay down doIt In inI t I them and rolled with mirth while I 1 retired to the sunny Munny seclusion afforded by ly a clump of gooseberry bushes and andi i mude made some repairs When we got back to the stump whore I had lord left lett my m things we found fount that a n red and white heifer had been r there Cows CO are the most curious things I 1 got both shoes back from among the shrubs but could find only j one ono sock and my hat which was a derby will have to be Well Vell we got out in n the punt at last i with Ith the minnows and the rods ro s and the lunch basket and when we were among the islands below belo the village we got the lunch spread out on the middle seat sent and set the rods It was a nice shady spot under a lot of big branch branching branching branchIng ing elms and the bank was rocky ant and j steep We Ve were in about ten feet teet of at water a sort of at calm pool flecked necked with little littler r disks of foam that floated in n from the 1 swift water at the head of the island 1 We y e had the punt anchored and I 1 had hadt t just laid back with my mouth full tull o oham or of orham ham sandwich and one eye ee on my ret red and blue float when zip I away wen went the boys float Hoat out of ot sight and the therod therOd therod rod nearly out of ot his bis hand He lie was Vas on his hit feet in a jiff jUre yelling to me that the fish was pulling in The Th Theline Theline line was running out like mad and when nhen I got hold of oC the rod I knew there was a good bass on Pretty soon the fish let up and I reeled In while the boy all aU excitement stood ready with the landing net nete I We e got Sir Bass alongside and th the thebo boy bo slipped the net under him and Ver very cleverly too But we Ye had only I 1 just got him In n when away went my rod over the side and aud out of or s sight Ight I I toll you I know whether I was E I standing on my head or my heels just juet then I grabbed the oars and tugged I away lIwa like Samson on the pillars and andI t than then remembered that the boat was I anchored with a weight w that I had forgotten to pull up We Ve could coald see my rod It was a light bamboo with a lightweight reel float floatIng 1 Ing away down stream and we got ot it at It last with bass bans No Ko 2 hard and fast aud and lots of at fight in him before the boy oy landed him with the net He was a pound heavier than the first and that one weighed four tour pounds Black bass bas said the blond clerk To be sure We Ye got fifteen in all alla a before they stopped biting there with an an n aggregate weight of forty pounds and tw two o of ot them went over five pounds I each on the scales of or the general store Ive I ve caught cau ht the large mouthed green bass in drowned land full of stumps with a long line Une thrown out toward the stumps and a piece e of bacon rind on two hooks books for bait baft and some s me of those fellows went six and seven pounds but the best beat b at of them In It for gameness sameness with any three pound black bass that the boy and I caught that day Well the black bass ba s stopped biting and when youve been bean catching black buss bass that run over five pounds there anything else In the river you u want to fish for with a rod So the boy and I I went trolling I 1 knew there was big game among the islands for I 1 remembered some whoppers hoppers being taken out when I was wasa a kid some by troll and some by heavy night lines baited with large chub and andI I wanted ranted to tt give the days sport a good for the boy bo So I said George how would you like to catch Mch a u thirty or lunge to pack Dack in ice and send to Uncle Tom in Milwaukee just to give him a surprise Boys os we been at the game twenty minutes before the thing happened hap happened en d George Geor in the stern had hail the theline theUne theline line Une with the end of It lapped around the gunwale streak I was pulling along leisurely nough in about ten or fifteen feet of ot water and about thirty J feet from shore It was a steep bank with elderberry and other bushes overhanging over overhanging I hanging and the water was dark and calm and aDd looked like Uke big fish flab rt It was lucky for George that he hel l the line wrapped around his hisz z hand band The line Une shot out of his fingers and Bd stiffened on the boat with a jerk jerky jerka I F a y and nd Jar that pretty near sent George end nd over ov r end Into the tiie river and knocked the oars up against my ribs For or a moment I thought the tackle would give Were Vere stuck on the bottom dad cried ried George George I said if J were not then weve hooked booked the biggest fish in the rivet verl verlI I 1 jumped to the end to grab the thene theline line ne and as I did my Jaw fell tell for the theme theline theline line me was slack alack against the end of ot the boat oat Weve l lost him I said and with that hat the line Une whipped across my fingers and nd nearly cut them oft of against a the boat oat The little bald stenographer held up upa a brown hand band See Bee that bruise Its only now get getting getting ting ng well he said The next nest moment the he boat spun clear around Hes all right I 1 yelled to George Hes going down stream heam And I X jumped jum ed back to the oars George went white between excite excitement excitement excitement ment and fear for tor we were ere now cUp clip cUpping plug ping it Jt down stream between a long Ion island and a main shore eboN at a three threemile threemile mile gait Will the line Une held hold dad said sad George and his voles voice was hoarse He went flat fiat in the bottom of o the boat x at with his hands over the end en and trIed ried to pull pun in on the line He H might as well have tried to team an Atlantic cable It was taut and straight and lard hard as a line Une between a tug and a tring string of barges full of coal coat What are we going to do dad 7 said aid George Just let him run I 1 said The lines getting loose cried George Is he heart off I Jumped to the line Hes lies getting tired I r said and ha he might well wen be for tor we had come down the he bank half a mile But I had no sooner let him feel my hand than away our great fish went again gain The boat swung round and ad he was away off up stream In a little while the boat slackened Its pace Jump to the oars George Georgel orge I said as s I 1 grabbed the line Une and row down downstream downstream stream tream And George did The fish was pretty pret tired ired by this time tune for tor he came along for or quite a way Then The suddenly theline the theine theUne line ine went went slack slack tight again Splash Great Scott George said and he gasped You could have hung your hat bat on Georges eyes We had had a glimpse of u our fish And such a fish Hes H 8 bigger than me said George Georgeu u Hes likely longer than I am Isaid I 1 Isaid said fearful that after all we might lose the prize Then the boat swung round and we were off down stream once more It was his last spurt Presently he lie came cameto cameto to the top dead beat beatRight beatRight beatRight Right across yards away along the island shore was a strip of yellow beach And George rowed there with witha a will I 1 jumped in up to my waist twenty yards from tram the waters edge and George Gor not to be outdone followed suit up up to his neck Together wo we w pulled on the line and our fish came c along like Uke a log Well said s the little clerk Well said the little bald ste stenographer stenographer stenographer as he ran ian ran the carriage of the typewriter up and down you know that theres sometimes a slip between the cup and the lip Up You lose him said two or three I 1 thought of ot this as m we hauled him himin himIn in He looked so big it seemed too good to be true And I wondered b by what what luck we brought a a gaff gat gaffI I r knew a fish of that size even dead beat could make a lot of trouble and might break the tackle at atthe the last moment I 1 told George to stand by with an oar and let him Um have It if 1 there was a kick coming In he came six feet long Draw It easy ea said the blond clerk what I 1 was doing hand overhand over overhand overhand hand When the fish f felt lt the bottom he turned over and I saw the kick coming It was now or never and I gave a yank that landed him big biff ashe as ashe ashe he was eight feet up the tho th beach And then And then 7 And then I had the oar out of Georges hand band and was banging banding the life Ute out of or him Out of George Dont be a tool fool I 1 would to believe such a Its gospel truth boys The tail tall of ot that fish when I carried him over over my shoulder trailed a foot on the ground und He weighed pounds pound On the scales at the general store It was w S the biggest biggest t muskellunge tak taken taken en out of the river in three years The taU tall was was over oyer fifteen inches across and Dd y you U could have put your head bead inside his mouth What did you Son B say y Is the name of that villager village asked the stout clerk clem as the bald little stenographer put Dut a a point to his bis pencil Walt Wait a minute he said Bald as he be gath gathered gathered gathered ered up his notebook Theres the chiefs bell ben |