Social tone taken with girl’s 45-pound muskie catch in 1922

While doing some work on an Adirondack hunting camp, Brian Pelletier stumbled upon tattered pages from the June 24, 1922 edition of the Watertown Daily Times. The avid outdoorsman passed the pages along to me because he thought I would be interested in an article titled “Girl Lands 45 Pound Muskie.”

Whereas modern muskie articles contain information about catch location, lure used, weather conditions, time of day, successful release, etc., the 1922 article had a predominantly social tone. That article, which appeared in the “Thousand Islands Resort News” section of the paper, follows in its entirety:

Among the arrivals of the cottage colony Friday were Mr. and Mrs. Andrew McLean of Paterson, N.J., and their daughters, the Misses Isabel and Virginia McLean. The McLeans are established in their beautiful villa located on Zavikon Island, where they will pass the summer. Edward McLean will join his parents later in the season. The Misses McLeans and Mr. Edward McLean are crack tennis players and for the past four seasons have won all of the prizes in the tournaments given at the Thousand Islands Yacht Club.

Mr. McLean is president of the St. Lawrence River Anglers’ Association.

Mr. A. Driggs of Brooklyn was at the resort yesterday. He was accompanied by Mr. Burns Lyman Smith of Syracuse, who is contemplating leasing for the season as he did last, the cottage on Dewey Island which belongs to Mr. Driggs.

Miss Madge Osborne of New York is the guest of her aunt, Mrs. Robert A. Osborn, on the houseboat, Arcadia. Miss Osborne and her aunt, on a fishing trip yesterday, landed a number of pike, pickerel and bass and Miss Osborne was lucky enough to land a 45-pound muscallonge, the largest of the season so far.

Mr. Osborne, who went down to New York earlier in the week, will return today for the rest of the summer. The son-in-law and daughter of the Osbornes, Mr. and Mrs. James Tillinghast, will arrive from Albany the first week in July. They will be accompanied by their young son. Mrs. Tillinghast is one of the most expert swimmers at the Thousand Islands, and at the end of the season last summer saved the lives of three young women who had gone out beyond their depth, near Edgewood Park.

Increased Daylight

Among the joys of north country winters is the ever-increasing amount of daylight as the season passes. Depending on where you live in the readership, sunrise now occurs several minutes before 7 a.m., whereas two months ago sunrise took place just before to 7:30 a.m. Sunset presently occurs shortly after 5:30 p.m., while the Dec. 19 sunset took place around 4:30 p.m. This translates to an hour-and-a-half gain in daylight hours.

TOP 10 BOAT NAMES

For the past 22 years, Boat Owners Association of The United States has been compiling a list of the most popular boat names and the organization just released its current list of top 10 names. From one to 10, those rankings are: Seas the Day, Nauti Buoy, Aquaholic, Dream Weaver, Pegasus, Serenity Now, Second Wind, Liquid Asses, Miss Behavin’, and Blew By You.

Three newcomers to this year’s list are Nauti Buoy, Serenity Now, and Blew By You, a popular name for racing sailboats and a play on words of a Roy Orbison song popularized by Linda Ronstadt. Dream Weaver and Pegasus appeared on the list for the second time while the other names are multi-year repeats. To see a list of more than 8,000 boat names, visit www.BoatUS.com.

CALENDAR

Monday: PBS airs “Streamside with Don Meissner” at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday: St. Lawrence River Walleye Association hosts annual Northern Pike Challenge.

Feb. 25-26: West Potsdam VFD hosts annual gun show.

Feb. 29: Seasons close in Northern Zone for squirrel, grouse, and pheasants.

March 3: Cranberry Lake VFD hosts annual ice fishing derby.

March 10: Parishville Sportsman Club holds 27th annual rabbit hunt (265-2922 or 353-3026).