Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 February 1896 — STUNNING SUCKERS. [ARTICLE]

STUNNING SUCKERS.

Fish Captured in an Entirely Nove Way. With the first firm coating of thiu black ice the New England boys pripa re for a va riet y of sport*. A fter fl ingi ug rocks aud slicks on the surface of the freezing water for several days (and thereby ruining the skating! and after sundry stampings of the root on tie* shallower spots to test the liearing strength, the whole village of bovS takes to tlx* river. Besides running “Tommy'’ over the dangerous spots, leaping the air holes, playing hocky by day and prisoner's base on moonlight nights, there is the little known but rarely delightful pastime of suckerstunning. The latter is particularly popular among the skateless lads. It Is only possible during a new freeze: that is. when the stream is covered with clear, fresh ice. Soon after the first cold night or two you will sc in many a village little groups trudging creekwanl armed with short, heavy-headed clubs and an axe or a hatchet. To tin* inquiring cries of such of their mates as are “green" ou the subject, they yell back. “Goin’ a-stun-uiu' stickers!” Selecting a stretch of water not over a foot deep they separate aud move stealthily over the ice. The ha If-inch "rubber" ice bends under their feet and scares them with many a crackle anij prolonged “booni!” Fader it they can see tiie bottom as dearly as from a skiff in summer. The slow-swilling dead leaves drift over the pebbles and muddy bars. Now and again a watersoaked branch crawls past. Ha! One boy bends forward eagerly and raises bis weapon. He sees lying slantwise of the current a dozing old sucker, a iiig one. Hardly a movement of fin is perceptible, yet the lisli is keeping his white nose iioiiited up-stream \V hack! Down comes the dub directly over the sluggard, and the fractured ice. forms a glistening star where the blow fell. Water oozes up from a tiuy hole in the center of the star and through the cracked ice one may see the now unconscious sucker floating with the snowy belly uppermost. A cry of triumph brings the boy with the axe. A bole is speedily eut.a little down-stream from the fish so as to allow for tiie speed of tiie current, and the stiffened fiisli is scooped out. Fsually lie is a "buster." for tin* stunners do not bother with the small fry. By tin* time the axeman has captured the first fish, usually another is waiting to be chopped out, and for two or three hours it is merry sport. It takes considerable skill, too, to stun tin* fish, l'ora very violent stroke may smash tiie ice without affecting the fish. If the axeman is slow the sucker, after drifting a few moments, will revive aud swim lazily away. It is not uncommon for a party of four or five to bring home from thirty to sixty stickers as an afternoon's work. Those, in the small streams, will average a pound or a pound and a half apiece. Iu such rivers as tiie Ilousatonic and Naugatuck, however, some suckers weighing five and six pounds are stunned every fair day. and the average weight is not tinder two and a half pounds.