THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



bait upon cx^casion, and knows how to handle it, is 

 sure of a few good fish, when the faddist must needs 

 return empty handed. 



All members of the pike family are preeminently 

 bait fish, from the little pickerel up to the fighting 

 muskellunge. One has but to observe the habits of the 

 fish to satisfy himself of the truthfulness of the asser- 

 tion. For four years I lived near a chain of lakes — 

 might almost say lived on them — that contained great 

 pike of fighting propensities and avoirdupois, and, 

 being something of a fish student as well as angler, 

 naturally availed myself of the opportunity for ob- 

 servation. I discovered that the fish had well-defined 

 lairs and ranges. To toss a small chub or sucker any- 

 where near a given point was to invite an attack nine 

 times out of ten. Naturally it follows that when the 

 sucker or chub was attached to a hook and the bait 

 cast in a skillful manner, the great pike was hooked, 

 though not always brought to gaff. The hooking of a 

 big great pike is the least part of the game. 



I had a fighting acquaintance with one monster (I 

 think he would have weighed in the neighborhood of 

 twenty-five pounds), which I had named "Big Arthur," 

 in honor of an eccentric lad who haunted the lake and 

 often fished with me. "Big Arthur" had his home in 

 a bed of water lilies near the upper end of the lake, 

 where the water shoaled sharply from thirty feet to 

 four or five. Naturally that weed-bed was the home 

 of sunfish, bluegills, and perch, a matter which "Big 

 Arthur" knew right well. Sometimes the latter lay in 

 the weeds just at the edge of the bed, and when some 

 hapless, reckless "punkin' seed" ventured into the open, 

 he more often paid toll with his life than returned to 



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