Chapter VII 



' Fly- Fishing for Great Pike 



**. . . Pike-fishing, in fact, has been with me the hobby — 

 the hobby, I might almost say — of a life." — H. Cholmondeley- 

 PennelL 



IN Chapter IV I discussed fly-fishing for pickerel, 

 speaking of tackle as well as methods, though 

 naturally I did not go into the matter exhaustively, 

 that fish being so "unimportant." However, I wish 

 to reassert what was emphasized there: Fly-fishing 

 for pickerel, provided proper tools are used, is an 

 enjoyable game and worth-while sport, whatever one 

 may think of the fish when killed and in the pan. 



When we turn to the great pike, fly-rod in hand, all 

 is changed; the possibilities for sport raised to the 

 nth power. Imagine a nineteen-pound, cold-^^'ater- 

 bred, fighting pike on a twelve-ounce rod, say. I can 

 assure the reader — a recent experience in mind — that 

 such a proposition spells trouble with a capital "T." 

 Perhaps it might be as well for me to spin the yarn 

 right here in the opening of the chapter, as it teaches 

 some things that the fisherman must learn if he is to 

 cope successfully with that combative werewolf of 

 northern waters. 



I am fortunate enough to possess a little cottage on 

 Chequamegon Bay, so near the main lake as to be 

 almost in Superior itself. Some miles up the bay is 

 the mouth of a slough, which extends well back in- 



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