THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



What is the use of carrying a net, anyway? I never 

 get big fish on the 'Onion'." So I went on without the 

 net. That day I hooked a German brown, the largest 

 of the season anywhere, and I lost him after exhausting 

 him, simply because I was without a net. Then and 

 there I resolved to carry a net forever and forever. 

 (I have worn out two nets on that stream since that 

 morning, and have failed to hook, even see, another 

 fish as large as the one that got away.) 



Now the same thing has happened to me in great 

 pike fishing, and I presume has happened to others. 

 Lacking a gaff or .32 revolver, a good thick club will 

 come in handy. I am sometimes asked about the 

 automatic gafTs one occasionally sees in the tackle 

 stores. Well, I have attempted to use two different 

 makes, and always with anything but flattering re- 

 sults. I have yet to find one that will hold a great 

 pike. The shape of the fish's body is such that the 

 tines of the gaff slip off, in spite of the angler's best 

 efforts. It is not clear to me why it happens. I only 

 know it does. 



I well remember a large muskellunge — a muskie is 

 but one of the pikes, you will remember — that I lost 

 in the Chippewa waters of Wisconsin. About half- 

 way down from Glidden I hooked what I think was 

 an unusually large fish for even those waters, hooked 

 and played him until he floated helplessly, belly up, 

 on the surface within reach of the canoe. Then I 

 lunged with the automatic gaff, one of those that is 

 supposed to "go off" when the fish is touched. It 

 sprung, all right, but the tines failed to penetrate the 

 hide of the fish. With a tremendous flop the great 

 fellow shot out. I nearly broke my rod, for I was not 



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