Ingenious Anglers Work Great Scheme.
Because of an unpardonable oversight, Carl Selzer and Louis Gunther, anglers, of Grand Rapids, Mich., are lamenting the loss of a half dozen trained minnows which not only proved their contention that fish are susceptible to learning, but brought about an unparalleled catch of pickerel.
Selzer, who is an active secretary of the Y. M. C. A., and Gunther, a German professor, have fished the waters of the Michigan northlands for years. On a trip last fall, while strikes were lagging, they entered on a discussion as to the intellectual capabilities of a fish, and both[Pg 65] agreed that it would be as possible to educate them along certain lines as it would be to teach a dumb animal tricks. Each one had lost many a good fish because of its ability to eject a hook from its mouth after “falling for” the lure of a brilliant bait, and this point alone suggested the learning of the trick from some other fish of wider experience.
During the winter the discussion was revived, and Gunther and Selzer decided to work out their theory, if possible. They visited the State fish hatchery and procured a dozen minnows and placed them in a tank kept in the barn at the rear of Gunther’s home. Into the tank they lowered a square cage made of small-meshed wire. From the start the minnows discovered that the meshes would admit the passage of their bodies, and they flitted through the cage freely in securing the bits of food which the two experimentalists artfully placed within.
After a few days a plan for frightening the minnows was introduced. Gunther dropped a large stone in one end of the tank. With the splash the minnows darted into the cage. When all was quiet again, they would venture forth, and, with another splash, caused by the dropping of the stone, they would flit back through the meshes. Soon they grew to realize that the wire cage was a haven of protection, and no matter what the method used by the two men to frighten them, they would always respond with a dash through the wires.
Several weeks ago Gunther and Selzer planned a weekend trip. They placed their trained minnows in a water container, packed up their appliances, and boxed the cage. Arriving at a northern lake in good season, they immediately rowed to a favorite pickerel “ground.” Gunther held the cage just under the water, and Selzer placed the minnows within. Then it was lowered easily about ten feet and suspended. Both men then baited their hooks with other live minnows and dropped them to the depth of the cage and about five feet away. Inside of a half hour they had made a record catch. Their idea had worked as they planned that it should.
The minnows swam from the cage, investigating after their curious fashion, and attracted a number of voracious pickerel, but as soon as they caught sight of the big fish, for which they held a congenital fear, they darted back into the cage, realizing, by reason of past experiences, that it was their stronghold.
The pickerel, flashing up, struck their pointed snouts against the wires, and, like Tantalus, were repulsed. Then, their greed thoroughly aroused, they swam about for a few moments, gloating on the possibilities, until satisfied that a feast was impossible. As they turned to fin away, their eyes caught the minnows adorning the hooks lowered by the two fishermen. In an instant, acting on the belief that the minnows were a part of the school which had eluded them, they struck and were caught.
For nearly an hour Selzer and Gunther continued to pull in the big pikes, and when they decided the afternoon’s sport was over, they had gathered a larger mess than they had ever caught before. That night they placed their trained minnows in a perforated can and hung it over the side of the wharf. Gunther, who attended to this duty, accidentally failed to lock the can. During the night, in some manner, the lid was raised, and the next morning it was discovered that the minnows had disappeared.
Both men firmly believe that some pickerel, piqued because of a failure in the afternoon to secure one of the[Pg 66] minnows, followed the boat and negotiated the raising of the lid, and had successfully satisfied an aching appetite.
The incident cut the trip short, but the theory was proved, and Selzer and Gunther are now busy training another dozen minnows for future excursions.