90 ROUND LAKE. 



water on the extreme edges of the bass weeds. While 

 fishing in this manner he should row up against the 

 wind, and then drift back over the ground. In fact, 

 on every occasion that offers, work over your fishing 

 water with the aid of the wind, if possible, for it is the 

 sculls clumsily manipulated in the water which ac- 

 count in many instances for the sparseness of an 

 angler's catch. 



The best pickerel ground is just off the east side of 

 the sandbar adjoining the deep water. There is also 

 excellent trolling ground for pickerel on the edges of 

 the bass weeds on the western side, and my own ex- 

 perience has proved that on this ground a spoon is 

 preferable during that period of the season when the 

 water is clearing from the annual visitation of algae. 



There is one particular fish of which the pot-fisherman, 

 with his heavy i-ough tackle, thick pole and inartistic 

 method of using it, can almost claim a monopoly in its 

 capture, and that is the big pickerel. It is generally 

 the fellow with a big bob and a strong line that catches 

 these big fellows. Let a man anchor a boat in a fairly 

 deepish stretch of weedy-bottomed water, and dangle 

 a big lively chub in close proximity and patiently wait, 

 and it is only a question of time until his pickerelship 

 will come along and grab it. Then there is no wait- 

 ing, for directly the big bob disappears the rod is seized, 

 and before the astonished fish is aware of what has 

 happened he is yanked, "nolens volens," into the boat. 



This kind of angling is too tame for the man with 

 any true bred angling instinct. He cannot bring his 

 mind to such coarse and summary methods. He uses 

 a fine line, a light casting rod, and endeavors to sup- 

 ply the lack of strength in his tackle with skill in 

 its use; but all the skill in the world Is inadequate 

 to cope with a large, powerful fish and a weedy bot- 

 tom, hence although he maf have a number of strikes 

 from large pickerel during the season he rarely brings 

 one to the landing-net. 



It is a noticeable fact that large pickerel are gener- 



