98 LAKE AND STREAM GAME FISHING 



fact, that I only put a line out after Earney, the 

 local fishing expert, insisted that he hated to waste 

 a minute on the water. We were in about thirty 

 feet of water when my reel began to sing, but there 

 was no other action, and, after striking, we paddled 

 back, thinking I was snagged. Earney ran his 

 hand along the line and gave it a jerk to loosen it, 

 and right then things sure opened up. Splash out 

 of the water, at the side of the canoe, flashed the 

 pike, and down again to the bottom. It was some 

 sport with a light rod, a ten-pound test bass line, and 

 a husky wall-eye. Three times I brought him up 

 to the canoe, fighting back and forth without any 

 long runs, but a continuous bunch of snappy jerks 

 followed by dives to the bottom, before we could 

 gaff him. 



NOT A SPECTACULAR FIGHTER 



A wall-eyed pike doesn't make the showy fight of 

 the bass. He doesn't show tHat race-horse speed 

 stuff of cutting through the water, and he doesn't 

 fight as long, but every one of his jerks and twists 

 sends up your spine a thrill that makes you feel like 

 a game cock after you land him. 



All through the season you can catch him, par- 

 ticularly in June, July and October. Try him out 

 on dull, cloudy days and in the evening, casting with 

 a red Ibis bass fly, weighted, of course, so that it 



