HOW PIKE AND PICKEREL ARE CAUGHT 149 



or leader, with swivels and sinkers added, as in using 

 spoons. A twisted leader not only causes a spoon or 



A gang of hooks. 



gang to draw better through the water, but is much 

 less liable to be cut through by the sharp teeth of 

 the fish. 



Pike and pickerel are caught by the same meth- 

 ods as described in taking muskallunge, with the 

 addition of some others to be mentioned. Pickerel 

 are more particularly a river fish, while pike usually 

 make their home in the lakes. This is a general rule 

 only, as both are often caught in circumstances just 

 the reverse. In all rivers where flags and weeds line 

 the shores heavily, pickerel, and often pike, will be 

 found among them during most of the year, but espe- 

 cially in the months of May, June, and July. In 

 lakes they can be taken by trolling, until the weeds 

 grow too high and prevent it. Pike and pickerel 

 are rarely found in open waters with clean bottoms. 

 Like the muskallunge, they hide in the weeds, ready 

 to dart forth at their prey. All angling for these 

 fish must therefore be done in the vicinity of these 

 subaqueous growths. No. 4 or No. 5 spoons will 



