GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 



man acquainted with every deep and shallow, as well 

 as knowing when and upon what the great pike feed. 

 The reason why the country boy with a tamarack pole 

 and cotton line catches more fish than the rodster 

 with his expensive outfit is not a matter of parapher- 

 nalia, but of water and fish knowledge. Give the 

 scientific angler the same intimate acquaintanceship 

 with lake and stream, and he will discount the native 

 50 per cent. Time and again, when I have become 

 thoroughly familiar with a trout stream, I have caught 

 two fish to every one taken by my Indian guide. 

 With but three days to spend upon a great pike water, 

 I am thoroughly convinced that if the angler were to 

 spend two of them, from earliest dawn to dark, study- 

 ing water and feeding times as well as food, he would 

 catch more than enough fish on the third day to make 

 up for the two spent in study. There is no defeating 

 the angler who knows. However, I am free to confess 

 that I have never been able to curb my impatience for 

 two days. 



For all waters probably there is no more attractive 

 minnow than the shiner, say from four inches up to 

 six. I have in mind the flat silver white minnow, such 

 as can usually be caught along the edges of weed-beds 

 in lakes and wide streams. A glass fish-trap baited 

 with breadcrumbs, a seine or dip-net will take them, 

 though I prefer to catch them with a minnow hook 

 and line, for those so caught are usually of the correct 

 size; and, wherever possible, I like to take them from 

 the very water in which I am to fish for great pike, for 

 those are the most alluring. Quickly released from the 

 hook, with moist hands to prevent breaking the pro- 

 tecting slime, and placed in a double minnow bucket, 



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