ONE OF THE AMERICAN FISHES. 



267 



sometimes attains to the weight of sixty pounds, and in Nor- 

 way it occasionally rises to a hundred pounds, and more than 

 eight feet in length, while in America it is quite rare to take 

 one of more than twenty pounds' weight. 



OF PICKEREL, AND ANGLING FOR THEM. 



ISH of this family are known 

 in the United States by the 

 name of pickerel, which is the 

 name in England for a dimin- 

 utive pike. All pike, after ris- 

 ing above the pickerel weight, 

 and under five pounds, in En- 

 gland, are known as " Jack," 

 probably named after a poach- 

 er by the name of Jack Pike. 

 In the waters of the East- 

 ern, Middle, and Western 

 States, as also throughout the 

 Dominion of Canada, the pick- 

 erel is found in most of the lakes, ponds, and some rivers ; 

 especially is it numerous in ponds where surface-water pre- 

 ponderates, and by reason of which the salmon families are 

 excluded. 



The meat of small pickerel is mealy, fresh, and without de- 

 cided flavor, when because of its yellow color it is called 

 doree ; but those from three pounds upward, taken in pure 

 water, may be justly considered a good breakfast-fish. The 

 pickerel of Greenwood Lake are good, because the food is 

 abundant, and trout rills drop into the lake from every direc- 

 tion. As the lake is only 60 miles from New York, I used to 

 take a seat in an evening train of the Erie Railroad, arriving 

 in Chester at 7 P.M., and drive down ten miles to the lake in 

 time to give Jack the baitman orders to have all things 

 ready, and call me at five next morning. Tap-tap-tap at my 

 chamber door announced that it was five, and nothing more. 



