Popular Fresh=Water Game Fish 



summer is almost incredible, most of them fish 

 large and old enough to reproduce their kind. 



The great northern pike is of exactly the same 

 disposition, and so, in a lesser degree, is the pick- 

 erel, except that neither the pike nor pickerel has 



^.. been known to rise above the surface of 

 Pike 



the water after being hooked. All the 



species are wandering, savage tyrants, preferring 



to lie in solitary places, waiting, ever ready to 



pounce on their victim. 



The range of the pike in America is from Lake 

 Champlain, the Great Lake region, and 

 the upper Mississippi River, north to 

 Alaska. In many of the large lakes of northern 

 New York, especially Lake George, pike are com- 

 mon. They also grow to a large size 

 Weight^ at the outlet of Lake St. John and the 

 Saguenay River; specimens up to forty 

 pounds are recorded there, at times. 



All over Canada, especially in the tributaries 

 of the St. John, this fish is caught in large quantities 

 in nets, as well as on lines. Its fight, when capt- 

 ured, is not so prolonged or persistent as the 

 mascalonge. It resorts to no devices to elude 

 capture, but makes fierce lunges in long straight 

 lines, sometimes on the surface, at others down 

 below; but a heavy fish of twenty pounds requires 

 considerable strength of arm and tackle to hold it 

 in subjection. It has the same habits in its food, 

 in regard to place and time of feeding, as the 

 mascalonge. 



In its general form, the pickerel resembles a 

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