swim both ways without turning around, 

 like a ferry boat," commented Bige, as 

 we examined the floundering big fish, 

 which had the tail end of a smaller fish 

 protruding three inches beyond his snout, 

 while the head of the younger was in 

 the pit of the stomach of the elder 

 pickerel. 



I have heard and read many tales, 

 illustrating the voracious appetite of 

 pickerel. Board man in his book, 

 "Lovers of the Woods/* tells how his 

 guide, George, while fishing in Long 

 Lake, lost his Waterbury watch over- 

 board. Several days later, he caught 

 a big pickerel and in dressing it found 

 his watch inside, still running. It seems 

 that a leather thong attached to the 

 watch was wrapped around the winding 

 crown and the other end of the thong 

 was looped over the fish's lower jaw 

 and hooked onto his teeth, so that when- 

 ever the pickerel opened and closed his 



32 



