VORACIOUS PIKE. 221 



staked it from side to side with pickets six feet 

 high and planted them about two inches apart. 



At the back or river side of this barrier we 

 kept some old, almost useless, nets set continu- 

 ously. They were doubled so that no small sized 

 pike could pass. This was done during the low 

 water in August. 



My next move was to employ every boy, girl 

 and old woman about the post trolling for pike. 

 We supplied them with the trolls and lines and 

 paid them a cent apiece for every pike over a 

 foot long. ? 



During this trolling process we kept some 

 nets of large mesh, set purposely for the bigger 

 ones. For days and weeks there must have 

 been lauded on an average a hundred a day, and 

 yet they came. 



As most of the pay was taken out in cheap 

 "bullseyes" at a cent apiece, the real outlay in 

 money was not considerable. 



The following spring we inaugurated an- 

 other system of warfare against the pests, and 

 that was by paddling quietly around the bays 

 and shooting them while they lay spawning and 

 basking in the sun and shallow water. 



Often three or four would be clustered to- 

 gether. A shot would not kill the whole, but it 

 Avould stun them so we could finish them with 

 the paddle. 



