THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



already been pointed out, it takes more than a little 

 food to supply a great pike with sufficient nutriment, 

 a single mouse, frog, or minnow being but an appetizer. 

 Naturally the hunting ground is divided up between 

 large fish, consciously or unconsciously. Of course, I 

 do not know that a great pike defends his hunting 

 ground against invading fish, but I have witnessed 

 terrific fights between males during the spawning 

 period, and I would not be surprised to discover that 

 the approach of a large fish would be the signal for 

 an attack from the great pike lying in his usual lair; 

 especially so since I demonstrated again and again 

 that a pike strikes at a moving object when hungry, 

 waiting to determine the nature of his prey after 

 capturing it. 



As to whether or not a great pike wanders far from 

 its lair, an observer is unable to determine, though the 

 fact that a given fish may usually be expected to strike 

 at a given point, actually strikes again and again and 

 upon succeeding days until captured, is a strong argu- 

 ment in favor of a restricted range. In my experience 

 the older, and consequently the heavier a fish, the more 

 disinclined it is to leave certain well-defined hunting 

 grounds. Therefore the expression commonly used by 

 anglers, 'TU go back there and get that old fellow 

 some day," is something more than an ichthyic crow. 

 I think what we may term "home instinct" is more 

 largely a determining factor in a fish's life than most 

 anglers imagine. 



I remember a certain deep hole in the Wolf River, 

 Wisconsin, just below a long, grassy flat, from which 

 during a certain camping trip I was always sure of 

 securing a strike from a goodly great pike. No, I never 



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