26 THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 



Conn., which he claimed was " an undoubted reticulatus of Le Sueur." 

 It was 38 inches in length and weighed 14 pounds. He stated that 

 this was the largest example of the species which had ever come under 

 his observation with one exception. The largest of which he had ever 

 heard as occurring in the Eastern States was taken in the spring of 

 1842 near Greenfield, Mass., which weighed 20 pounds. These might 

 be accepted as authentic records were it not for the fact that the 

 introduced pike had become fairly common in the Connecticut River 

 in 1846 in the vicinity of Bellows Falls, Vt., and had found its way 

 down perhaps into these tributaries. This fact lends an element of 

 doubt to the question, preventing acceptance of the records as 

 authentic, although Dr. Ayres was an accomplished ichthyologist. 

 However, ichthyologists have been known to make worse mistakes. 



Storer (1853) said that the largest pickerel seen by him were speci- 

 mens weighing 7 pounds brought from Brewster, Cape Cod. Even 

 larger ones were reported to have been found there. 



Pickerel weighing as high as 8 pounds have been authentically 

 reported, but such size is uncommon and fishes accounted large will 

 not usually exceed half that weight. Two and three pound pickerel 

 are about the average in waters of ordinary suitability to the fish. 

 However, bodies of water differ in respect to their suitability, and in 

 some the largest fish will not exceed a pound and in others much 

 larger fish are common. 



HABITAT AND HABITS. 



Habitat. — The usual haunts of th6 pickerel are weedy streams and 

 bays or coves of lakes. In some lakes small and medium sized pickerel 

 occur in the shallow coves, where they lurk under lily pads or amongst 

 the rushes and sedges. Often larger fish occur along rocky shores 

 contiguous to deep water, especially if there are fallen trees, brush, or 

 bowlders to afford concealment. It has, also, been caught on the 

 rocky shoals of an open lake. 



In some streams, while it is most abundant in the sluggish, dead 

 waters where aquatic vegetation is profuse, it is not infrequently 

 found well up in quicker water if the character of the shores or 

 growth there provides concealment. 



In North Carolina, Smith (1907) stated that, its favorite haunts are 

 creeks, coves, and bayous containing grasses and broad-leaved 

 water plants, under which it lurks. 



Where natural or artificial obstructions do not exist, the pickerel 

 will sometimes make its way to extreme headwaters. Adult pickerel 

 a foot in length have been taken near the spring source of a stream 

 where it was not over 2 feet wide and only a few inches deep, but 

 full of pondweed. However, pickerel wiU not often traverse rapids 

 or long extents of rips, and those found far upstream, as just de- 



