Decoying Fish

"You have heard of shooting game by means of decoy birds often enough no doubt," said an old sportman the other day, "but I doubt if you ever heard of fishing by means of a decoy fish, where the decoy was not used f or bait. I never saw it done rnyself till I visited Georgian bay, a part of Lake Huron, in Canada, one winter. There I f ound that the half breed Indans erected huts on the f rozen bay and fished through holes cut in the ice by means of a queer decoy. "In order to facilítate matters, someof them had little stoves in theirhutsto keep them warm while they fished. The huts had only one opening, a door, and when the fisherman had entered and closed the door no light entered the hut except what came up through the floor, reflected through the ice outside and the water underneath it. Tliis made it posgible for the fisherman to see deep down into the water and difficult for fish to see Mm in his dark hut. The fisherman has a chair or bench to sit upon, food and drink to keep life in him during his long watch and a little stove to prevent chili. Now comes the decoy business. "The half breed takes out of his kit a queer lookiug stick, painted and shaped roughly to look like a fish, he avers, though it would hardly be breaking the gecond commandment to worship it, for it is the likeness of nothing in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, on in the water under the earth: but if the fish think it is the main object is accotnplished. This wooden counterfeit of a fish is loaded with lead, so that it sinks and lies in the water the right way when suspended from the middle of the back by a string attached to a short fishing pole. The Indian Iets this decoy down into the water and by means of the string gives it a series of short, sharp jerks, which make it a dart hither and thither in a remarkably lifelike manner, although, of course, its range is exceedingly limited, about a yard in any direction. "The thing is provided with tin fins and tail and is weighted with lead most heavily at the head. The string is attached neaíer the head than the tail, upon the back, and the skill with which these fishenneii make the queer thing shoot about in a triangle under their feet, through a hole in the ice, is truly remarkable. I did not succeed in acquiring the art myself. I should say from trying it that it is rather more difficult to learn than fly casting. "Presently a few fish, noticing this decoy darting about as if in active pur suit of his food, swim that way to see iL there is not something there for then also. They may be fresh water herring, salmón, trout, whitefish or less valuable game; but none of them, big or little, is ref used by the half breed. Fine fish he sells; the coarse ones he or his dogs or his children or his squaw eat readily. "Pulling up his decoy, the fisherman Iets down a baited hook and tries his luck on the newcomers, seldom in vain. These uien fish with all sorts of queer bait. I saw one man make a splendid haul one day, using for bait only a big white bone button without any hook. The fish swallowed it greedily, and he would jerk them out of the water bef ore they could get it out of their throats. By and by a pike or dogfish, seeing the ehoal of fish around the pole, darts after them. They scatter in a hurry, and the fisherman Iets down his decoy again to attract the pike. "Now all the sldll at his command must be employed to make the decoy work well, for if it lags in the water long enough for the pike to suspect its genuineness he will turn away in disgust. If the decoy deceives the wily pike he dashes at it, and the fisherman jerks it away before the pike can grab it in his rtrong jaws. The pike turns to pursue, and as he halts to turn the fisherman drives at him with a long forked spear. If his aim is accurate, the pike is transfixed and is brought bleeding to tho surface in a jifify. "These men are skilled hunters and know many curious habits of the creatures they pursue. They say that muskrats, for instance, are able to swim long distances under the ice in this manner: Taking a long breatii, the muskrat dives from his pursuer and swirns as far as he can. When he can go no longer without a fresh breath, he comes up under the ice, and pressing his nose against it breathes out all the air in his lungs. This forms a big bubble under the ice, and tho Indians say that the ice has the power of making that bubble of air fresh again, öxygenizes it in fact, and that the little fêllow then breathes it in again and dives once more. This he can do half a dozen time?, the Indians say, bef ore the air he took with him becoines so fooi that the ice cannot freshen it again. "Whether this property of the ice is true or not I cannot say, but the Indiaas firmly believe it, and I know that muskrats can travel a long way under the ice, and I have seen them come up underthe ice, press their noses to it awhile and then dive asain. Perhaps some scientist