PISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 23 



once lived ami wIum-o piokorol now occurs that the depletion of the 

 trout has not been ascribed to the pickerel. It undoubtedly eats 

 other fishes, and there are few fishes that do not. But the habits of 

 the juckerel are such that it is not nearly so detrimental to other fish 

 life as some other species held in higher regard, and the pickerel in 

 large bodies of water becomes still less harmful. It is not much of a 

 wanderer. It does not rush about in marauding bands seeking what 

 it may devour. It lies in wait and grabs what comes its way when 

 it is inclined to feed, yet often schools of temptmg shiners have been 

 seen swimming unharmed in apparently dangerous proximity to big 

 pickerels' heads. Pickerel feeding will take any moving object 

 withm reach, young of their own kind not excepted. Young pickerel 

 from 2| to 3 or 4 inches long at Sunapee Lake were found subsisting 

 ahnost wholly upon the aquatic larvae of insects that occur so abun- 

 dantly in the still or dead w^aters of the brooks. 



While usually inhabiting the shallow, weedy coves and bays in the 

 warmer months, large pickerel are often found about rocky shores 

 and in deeper water. In winter, too, they congregate in deeper 

 water, and it is owing to this fact that fishing through the ice so often 

 depletes a lake or pond of pickerel. 



The habit of pickerel of seeking shallow, weedy places is one which 

 ordinarily makes for the safety of the deeper and cooler water denizens, 

 but in some lakes, Sunapee, for instance, it becomes to some extent 

 a disadvantage. Such congenial pickerel haunts are the dead waters 

 at the mouths of inflowing streams, which streams are often natural 

 trout nurseries and are frequently used in planting trout and salmon. 

 When the trout and salmon descend toward the lake they often have 

 to run the gauntlet of the waiting maws of the pickerel and doubtless 

 many have been destroyed in that way. 



The pickerel probably spawns in the dead waters of the brooks when 

 possible, and the young remain in shallow water until they are of con- 

 siderable size. While they are most frequently found in the shallowest 

 waters and even some distance up the brooks, they probably seek 

 these places mainly for self protection from other larger and voracious 

 fishes rather than for food, which is more abundant in the still or 

 dead w^aters. During 1910 and 1911 some young pickerel were seen 

 throughout the season in Pike Brook dead water. In August the 

 young were from 2| to ^\ inches long and all at the upper end of the 

 dead water or in a pool a short distance above the dead water. 



The smallest pickerel observed in the lake were two, each about 

 10 inches long, seen at Newberry in shallow water on rocky bottom, 

 October 18. Other pickerel observed were one of about 2 pounds 

 caught by troUing in July near Blodgetts Landing and several in 

 October and November, 13 to 16 inches long, taken in gill nets near the 

 mouth of Pike Brook. A 13-inch fish caught near the mouth of Pike 



