194 LAKE AND STREAM GAME FISHING 



I struck him hard and set the hooks to stay. This 

 annoyed him some, because he made a bee line 

 for the deep water on a straight run of about sixty 

 feet before I put on the thumb. He passed so close 

 to the boat that I saw his size and knew my work 

 was cut out for me because I had a No. 5 Jamison 

 line with which I had been casting several days and 

 no gaff or gun to land him with. 



" You cannot take chances with a line that has 

 become worn with steady casting, so we followed 

 him around for about thirty minutes, giving him line 

 when he wanted it and taking her in when possible. 

 I was unable to get the pike close enough to land 

 him, so one of the boys at the camp paddled out and 

 as I brought the fish to the surface he slipped his 

 hands under his gills and lifted him into the canoe. 

 The fight had been enough for him at that and he 

 laid there without much pep. 



" Here's a little dope for the wise ones who take 

 a slap at the pike. If you get them from a cold 

 spring-fed lake, they put up a game fight and if you 

 want some good sport land a large one on a line that 

 tests out at eight and one-half pounds. That is what 

 my line tested after the fight, and you can take it 

 straight, this old bird put up a fight." 



THIS PIKE GETS AWAY, BUT 



The fish that gets away is always the largest, but 

 here is a 1 2-pound pike that got away and, after an 



