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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



idea of the appearance of this widely known fish. 

 Passing to the Pike family, we have a very interesting 

 member of it in our common Pike or Pickerel a fish 

 indigenous to both Europe and America, and familiar to 

 anglers in all parts of its habitat ; it also occurs in some 

 of the waters of northern Asia. It is a relative of the 

 might v Muskellunge, and still other species are members 



THE WHITE PERCH 



Figure 9. One of our most important food fishes is the White Perch; in fact, in 

 this respect it is only exceeded in the East by the Striped Bass. White Perch 

 (Roccus americanus) make attractive aquarium fish; the one here represented is 

 from a photograph made by the writer at the United States Bureau of Fisheries, 

 where it occupied one of the large tanks. 



of the same genus, as the Common Pickerel and the 

 two species of Brook Pickerel. These last two are so 

 small that fishermen pay them but scant attention. 



Muskellunge sometimes run up to one hundred pounds 

 in weight, and to land one with rod and line is a feat 

 not to be forgotten in a lifetime. The writer once 

 witnessed a fight with one on Silver Lake in Wisconsin, 

 which, when captured, was found to weigh but 25 pounds. 

 The gentleman who took it was in an open, light canoe, 

 and handled a delicate steel rod with the finest sort of 

 a reel and line. To witness the skill with which he 

 finally brought that big fish to gaff was a -sight never 

 to be forgotten ; all of three-quarters of an hour was 

 required to do it. The writer has taken Common Pike 

 in many waters, as in the streams of New England, in 

 the lakes of the Catskills, and in various sections of the 

 Northwest. Sometimes, when afield without a rod, a 

 fine fish has occasionally been taken with a shotgun ; for, 

 as we all know, a pike has the habit of resting near the 

 surface of the water as motionless as a stick, so that it 

 is an easy matter to shoot it ; but, it must be admitted, it 

 is not a very sportsmanlike procedure. Still, with no 

 tackle at hand, and one has no fish for breakfast in a 

 forest camp, we must believe that such an act would 

 be more or less justifiable and that the forester would 

 be forgiven for it. 



Pike are usually found especially in New England 

 in deep, still mill-ponds, where the water is quiet and 

 water lilies grow in patches of greater or less extent. 



Behind these an old pike will lie in ambush a few inches 

 below the surface, awaiting the passage of minnows or 

 "shiners;" upon these he has no mercy, seizing them in 

 his powerful jaws, and devouring probably several dozen 

 in the course of twenty-four hours. During the spawning 

 season the fish are found in pairs ; but at other times they 

 live singly and at greater or less distances apart. They 

 may be taken with the trolling-line, or, better 

 still, with live minnows and any ordinary tackle. 

 On a big mill-pond that has not been over-fished, 

 six or eight big pike may be taken with the rod 

 from a boat in the course of a forenoon's fish- 

 ing. One should scull cautiously through the 

 open water, and cast the bait over into the places 

 where the lily-pads are, and where the pike are 

 in concealment. It is remarkable to note the 

 voracious manner in which one will rush through 

 the water to seize a minnow struggling on the 

 hook; and when hooked, the fish, if a big one, 

 will put up a lively fight in its efforts to escape 

 being taken, often springing clear of the water in 

 its attempts to shake the hook out of its 

 mouth. 



An even more gamy fish is our common Brook 



Trout a species known to anglers throughout 



the world. An excellent picture of this famous 



game-fish, and the sort of brook wherein it may 



be found are here shown in Figures 12 and 13. 



With respect to the distribution in this country 



of the Speckled Trout the Salvelinus fontinalis 



of science Doctor Goode has said that the "Speckled 



Trout has its home between latitudes 32^ and 55 , 



in the lakes and streams of the Atlantic watershed, 



near the sources of a few rivers flowing into the 



THE YELLOW PERCH 



Figure 10. Although not an especially gamy fish, the Yellow Perch is 

 one of the anglers' standbys from boyhood up. During the fishing 

 season, this perch is exposed for sale in great numbers in our markets, 

 and it is esteemed very highly as a food fish. 



Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, and in some of the 

 southern affluents of Hudson's Bay. Its range is limited 

 by the western foothills of the Alleghenies, and nowhere 

 extends more than three hundred miles from the coast, 

 except about the Great Lakes, in the northern tributaries 

 of which Trout abound." It is a fish with remarkable 

 habits, and a long and more than remarkable history. No 

 end of books have been written about its natural history 



