ICE-FISHING FOR GREAT PIKE 



edges of the hole. As soon as the bit of my ax struck 

 through into water, I took an ice-chisel and rimmed 

 out the bottom of the hole. Quickly fastening a minnow 

 to the hook of an already rigged line, I lowered it some 

 fifteen feet beneath the surface and left it to do the 

 fishing. Of course, the end of the line was securely 

 tied to a stick sufficiently long to prevent the whole 

 outfit being carried away. 



I gave the ax and chisel over into the hands of my 

 companion and busied myself gathering a heap of 

 firewood — logs, stumps, and chunks, some of which 

 were so large that I was compelled to roll them out 

 upon the ice. A good fire is an important adjunct to 

 ice-fishing, for, as I have already intimated, even a 

 warm land day is apt to seem exceedingly frigid out 

 upon a wind-swept lake. In fact, I do not remember 

 a real warm day on the ice, and I have been out when 

 the surface was well a-slush, too. When my fire was 

 going in good shape, I returned to my friend and found 

 that he had finished his first hole and was busily en- 

 gaged upon the second. Without paying any atten- 

 tion to the first line set, I turned to and helped. When 

 we had cut six holes and got out the sets, we concluded 

 that we had enough lines and returned to the fire to 

 warm up, or rather, unfreeze and dry out, the splash- 

 ing of the water having wet our mittens disagreeably. 

 The wise winter fisherman carries at least one extra pair. 



It had not been our purpose to bob for great pike, 

 simply to set lines and wait for the fish to come along; 

 but my friend could not keep away from his holes. 

 Consequently, while manipulating the stick attached to 

 the last line set, he attracted and hooked a fish. Unfor- 

 tunately for him, he did not give the fish sufficient 



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