FROM STRIKE TO GAFF 197 



FISHES DEEP ON HOT DAY 



The pike, like the bass, hunts the cool waters dur- 

 ing the hot weather, and you have to send your bait 

 to him to create enough interest to excite a strike. 

 Clarence J. Vogt of Chicago, used this method to 

 tease a fifteen and three-quarter pound pike to hit 

 the bait on a hot July day, and here is the story : 



" I caught this husky beggar casting off Indian 

 Point in Fox Lake, Illinois. You may recall that it 

 was a trifle hot last Saturday, being 92 in the shade, 

 so I let my Stanley fly with spinner, baited with a 

 nice enticing pork strip, go down fairly deep in order 

 to get to the fish, which were hunting the cool places 

 in the deeper water. This pike sure must have been 

 hungry or sore, because he struck the bait like a ten- 

 strike. Not having a gaff or landing net, I played 

 him for fifteen minutes, till he showed white, then I 

 brought him close up to the boat and slipped my 

 fingers under his gills. Did I land him then? 

 Well, I guess not; he livened up in a second and 

 started another five-minute tussle for a getaway, 

 which failed to make good, for I used a little more 

 speed on the grab when I had him to the boat the 

 second time." 



Letting the bait go down to him is what ended the 

 career of a 1 2-pound pike. Sidney A. Hand of 

 Chicago just sort of carelessly let his bait settle a 

 bit and the answer was that the pike had a chance 



