THE LITTLE PICKERELS 



anywhere from one to eight pounds, is highly thought 

 of by some fishermen, not to mention the ubiquitous 

 small boy. However, I dare defend even the little 

 pickerel as a "game fish;" that is, when hooked on 

 proper tackle. When one reads of fishing for pickerel 

 through the ice, a fascinating sport to be described 

 later on in this work, it is usually the eastern pickerel 

 (Esox reticulatus) and the great pike {Esox lucius) the 

 writers have in mind. One should not troll for pickerel : 

 the fish run too small, and there is a better method, 

 namely, casting. 



Casting for Pickerel 



This is essentially shore casting, for few ideal pickerel 

 streams are navigable for even canoes, so choked are 

 they with fallen trees and drift; but where one can get 

 along with a light craft, casting from a boat may be 

 indulged in. Nevertheless, the problems confronting 

 the shore-caster are so many and so difficult of solu- 

 tion that I give that method first place. The average 

 pickerel river presents tangled banks — woodbine, star 

 cucumber, and clematis festooning sumac and prickly 

 ash with an almost impenetrable tangle of cobwebby 

 streamers and rope-like vines. To secure and main- 

 tain a casting position is sometimes a problem. More 

 than once I have made my perilous way out upon a 

 protruding log, only to discover that I had neglected 

 to figure out some way of netting a hooked fish, my 

 light tackle being inadequate to lift the capture by 

 main strength and awkwardness. Yes, more than 

 once I have found myself in the position of the man who 

 needed someone to help him let go the bear. As be- 

 tween the value of a twenty-dollar one-piece casting 



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