82 THE TROI/LER'S GUIDE. 



angler has hooked, while he his drawing it out of the 

 Vater, leapihg above the surface for that purpose. I have 

 krtown many instances of their swallowing the leaden 

 plummet that the angler is taking his depth with; and 

 once while I was plumming the depth (preparatory to 

 fishing for Chub in the winter) with a folding plummet, 

 having a No. 8 hook and a gut line, a Jack, of about two 

 rpounds, immediately pouched my plummet; the hook, 

 hanging over the side of this folding plummet, got sufficient 

 hold of the Jack, that I held him and soon killed and 

 landed this hungry intruder. 



Perch {the large ones especially) seem but little 

 intimidated by the appearance of Jack or Pike, for they 

 continue to swim about as before those tyrants appeared; 

 but not so ^with other fish, for they immediately swim or 

 dart away with the greatest velocity, and theEels suddenly 

 sink and bury themselves in the mud, or lay close under 

 thick and heavy beds of weeds. 



It is generally supposed, that Jack will increase in 

 weight something more than a pound in a year for the 

 first Tour or five years, and during that time continue to 

 grow in length, but after that period they grow more in 

 deptlror breadth and thickness. Some writers on natural 

 history, affirm that Pike will live two or three hundred 

 years, and grow to the amazing size of a hundred and 

 fifty pounds or more, and that they are so wonderfully 



