IOO AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



Then again, when eye and ear are weary of the incessant 

 roar and flash of the rapids, there is a restful change in the 

 picturesque stretches filled with islands, where you may or 

 may not, according to luck and the state of the water, get 

 some pretty fishing, either in the calm, smooth water out in the 

 middle or along the channels between the islands, which will 

 remind you of pleasant days spent on some favorite Trout 

 lake, or wandering along the banks of a sequestered stream. 



The worst of these broad expanses is that they are great 

 breeding-places for Pike (Esox Lucius, Jordan & Gilbert), 

 better known, but incorrectly, in the United States, as Pick- 

 erel. Though handsome enough in their own coarse way to 

 be a good game fish in their proper place, they destroy the 

 Wananishe terribly. They lurk in the still water of the bays 

 into which the Wananishe wander in search of food, and even 

 get out into quiet holes in the rapids. Many of the larger 

 Wananishe bear marks of having slipped through these pirates' 

 teeth. 



I once saw a five and one-half pound fish swimming about in 

 an odd and helpless manner, and found that his spine had been 

 broken by a Pike so that he could not use his tail. In 1887 

 I was fishing off the rocks at the Grande Chute, and hooked a 

 Wananishe which proved to weigh just less than a pound. Not 

 particularly caring about such a small fish, I let him wander 

 off while waiting for my canoe-man to bring the landing-net. 

 On reeling in, the weight seemed to have increased in an ex- 

 traordinary manner. I at first thought the fish had fouled 

 something; but a rush like a Salmon's changed that idea into 

 great curiosity. After an anxious twenty-five minutes, for 

 the fish several times tried to bolt into the main current, and 

 there were some awkward rock ledges close in, he turned out 

 to be a Pike, and a good-sized one. Once within reach he 

 was easily netted, and was found to weigh ten and one-half 

 pounds. The Wananishe was in his gullet, but the hook had 

 slipped out of the Wananishe's mouth and caught in the socket 



