PICKEREL FISHING 331 



him to which they confidently look forward. 

 Usually the fisherman hauls this monster up to 

 the hole in the ice but is unable to get him through 

 because the hole is too small. Tales like this, 

 heard now and then about the fire while we watch 

 the traps, give assurance that the fishermen are 

 really very human after all and not of the Peter 

 Pan species. 



The other variety of pickerel is Esox ameri- 

 canus, the banded pickerel, known hereabouts 

 mainly as brook pickerel, because he loves grassy 

 streams. But the brook pickerel frequents the 

 ponds as well, loving best those of weedy bottoms 

 and shores and slight depth. He is a slim, little 

 green fellow, usually not over a foot long and 

 his dark banded sides easily distinguish him 

 from the smaller specimens of his reticulated 

 neighbor. The brook pickerel is found only east 

 of the Allegheny Mountains, from Massachusetts 

 to Florida while the pond pickerel is found from 

 middle Maine to Florida, and west to Louisana 

 and Arkansas. In spring the pond pickerel goes 

 up into the ready margins as far even as the 

 brook pickerel will and often I see him in water 

 so shallow that his back fin sticks up, looking like 



