THE PIKE. 379 



over two lengths of a two-feet rule, but he smelt so strong, 

 that even by holding the nose we could only just slip the 

 rule on him twice and then run for dear life ! The stench 

 was too much to investigate any further. 



Fishing in this same river one evening, we had caught 

 some nice fish, when my boatmen said, "See that !" I looked, 

 saw the circles extending outward until the ripples touched 

 the boat; a new minnow was put on and fixed; the boat 

 stopped and I cast out up-stream, a few feet above the cen- 

 ter of the ripples. My minnow dropped splendidly; it scarcely 

 touched the water before Esox had it, and ran. The river 

 was full of roots and submerged logs. I had to strike or let 

 him go. I struck sharply. 



"Let the boat go, Charley!" The boat drifted, and by sheer 

 force I reversed my rod and hauled the fish into the chan- 

 nel; then began the fun! The moment I gave him a slack 

 line he plunged for the bottom, but I stopped him; then he 

 made a rush for the banks, across and across the river for 

 some minutes. I never handled a crazier, or so mad a fish; 

 my rod bent so #hat I dare not count on the fish; he was 

 full of fight, and kept it up until I had him close to the boat. 

 Charley, my boatman, gave him a crack on the head across 

 the eyes, with the butt of a paddle. This stunned him. In 

 a second he was at my feet, and a knife into his spinal col- 

 umn back of his head a splendid fish, weighing about 

 twelve pounds. 



Many anglers use a Salmon-gaff for handling Pike. They 

 are splendid things in a boat where only two men who know 

 how to use them are fishing. In the hands of many ordinary 

 men you lose more fish by mis-strikes than you can catch 

 with them. 



Esox lucius is diminishing in numbers, and especially in 

 size. Better fishing appliances, and the pushing in of rail- 

 roads into unfrequented Jake countries, have opened up 

 regions to the angler little dreamed of twenty years ago. The 



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