THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



Those lures weigh all the way from one and one-half 

 ounces for the lightest, to three ounces for the heaviest. 

 I have yet to see the five-ounce split-bamboo rod ca- 

 pable of standing up under the strain of casting a three- 

 ounce lure. I would give the maximum casting weight 

 of a lure as at one and one-half ounces, and that is 

 heavy for easy casting. I had rather that a lure weighed 

 an ounce, or a fraction either way. I am thinking of 

 casting, the reader will understand. Undoubtedly 

 there is a certain attractiveness to an eight- or ten-inch 

 lure from the muskellunge's point of view, but I can 

 handle the smaller lures so much more effectively as 

 to offset the attractiveness of the larger "plug." I 

 always think of my rods, for I love them. 



If the lure be extraordinarily well made, hooks 

 hand forged, attached to a wire running through the 

 body or to the hooks upon the other side — never to a 

 simple screw driven into the soft wood of the body — 

 there should be no danger of a break. I have had hooks 

 fractured by the fierce onslaught of an overly large 

 great pike or muskellunge, but always because the 

 hooks were poorly made. My largest muskellunge 

 was taken on an ordinary bass plug weighing consid- 

 erably less than an ounce. The lure should always be 

 provided with an eight- or ten-inch wire leader or 

 gimp. Nothing but the best of wire should be used. 

 Then let the fish "strike over," if he so desires. The 

 rodster can smile. 



In muskellunge fishing — in all pike fishing, as for 

 that — the angler must think of landing his quarry 

 e'en before he makes the initial cast. Some wise one 

 once averred, "It is too late to repent after the devil 

 comes;" so it is too late to wish for a good gaff, re- 



134 



