FROM STRIKE TO GAFF 199 



had snagged their lines, but, of course, found out 

 very promptly that they had another guess. Here 

 is the record of a 1 2 J^ -pound wall-eyed pike caught 

 in Black Lake, McNaughton, Wisconsin, by Robert 

 H. Moulton, of Chicago: 



" I was rowing along in a lazy sort of way, just 

 about moving, my thoughts on a nice fried bass with 

 a well-turned flapjack when I made camp. I had a 

 line out trolling along, which is a habit I have of 

 always keeping a line in the water for luck, when 

 the reel began its love song. I had visions of losing 

 my favorite dowagiac, a Heddons underwater min- 

 now, green back with white belly, thinking that I had 

 snagged, so I gave the line a good jerk to loosen 

 her up. 



RECOGNIZES THE WALL-EYE'S FIGHT 



' That old jerk sure wised me up to the fact that 

 I had a whopper on the off end of the line. It 

 didn't take long to figure out that he was a wall-eye 

 because he started off with a series of jerks and tugs 

 that would have done credit to a bull pup. It took 

 me about eight minutes to work the seventy feet of 

 line away from him and bring him to the side, but 

 not for the gaff, as he made four runs to the bottom 

 after as many trips to the boat side, and each reeling 

 in was harder than the preceding one. 



" It was one continuous bunch of short pulls inter- 

 spersed with straight long rushes to the bottom, and 



