GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 



occasion take anything edible or near edible is a well- 

 known characteristic of the family. I have more than 

 once taken good great pike up to four pounds upon 

 angle worms. 



While upon the question of baits, I would like to 

 mention one seldom resorted to because of the trouble 

 of securing it, as well as the difficulty the caster ex- 

 periences in fastening it to his hook. I refer to mice. 

 I am free to confess that I do not know how to attach 

 a mouse to a hook, and am only glad to get it half 

 fastened if I can escape with whole fingers. A mouse 

 possesses teeth. Perhaps some ambitious angler will 

 yet invent a "mouse harness," and so win thanks, 

 fame, and fortune. Till that time arrives I must pass 

 this best of baits with but a word. The mouse should 

 be so fastened to the hook that it is free to swim upon 

 the surface, and there is little for the rodster to do 

 save cast it where it should go. 



I once used a mouse very successfully. I was spend- 

 ing a little time at a great pike water, a grassy, weedy 

 lake fairly alive with the wicked gentry, but notwith- 

 standing their numerousness I failed to secure a good 

 fish. So one day I captured a mouse under a "figure- 

 four trap," chloroformed it, and while it was quiescent 

 wired the body to a double hook, to which I attached a 

 trailer. By the time I reached my chosen fishing ground, 

 my bait was very lively; indeed, I was worried for fear 

 that it might escape from my hook altogether and run 

 amuck in the boat. My first cast with the somewhat 

 unusual bait was a good one, well in amid the fringing 

 cat-tails, and Mr. Mouse set out for shore. Hardly 

 had half a minute passed before a splendid great pike 

 had him, and I was hard and fast in the heaviest fish 



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