OTHER FISH AND GAME ' 285 



sequence of the heavy pitches of the larger fish. Many 

 anglers, and especially those accustomed to ouananiche 

 and trout, speak of the pike as altogether devoid of 

 game qualities. Their prejudice is perhaps largely 

 due to the abhorrence in which they hold his destruc- 

 tion of better and gamer fish, or perhaps they have 

 never experienced the additional fight which I fancy 

 he displays in the vigor-inspiring cold and deep water 

 of his north Canadian home. This deep-seated preju- 

 dice, together with the better sport among the sal- 

 monidae to which they have been accustomed, detracts 

 from many anglers' enjoyment of the sport of pike- 

 fishing, the principal element of which to them lies 

 in the knowledge of the fact that they are destroy- 

 ing one of the worst enemies of trout and onananiche. 

 Yet the pike has many excellent points. He is a 

 sharp, fierce biter, a quick, strong runner on the first 

 break, and if he fails on one attack will come again 

 with undiminished appetite. True, he is a tender- 

 lipped, short-lived fellow, and if held well in hand on 

 a stiff rod will very soon come to terms; yet with it 

 all he is a surging, splashing, rushing foeman. W. 

 David Tomlin, in his monograph on this fish in 

 Shield's American Game Fishes, says of its fighting 

 qualities : 



" It is a powerful fish, and is no coward ; it will fight as vicious- 

 ly as a terrier. We have seen smaller pike with jaws locked and 

 lashing the water around them like a boiling caldron. Occasion- 

 ally letting go and backing out, they would again rush at each 

 other with open jaws and keep up the fight until one is beaten and 

 driven away, or until both are exhausted. Some years ago I found 

 two dead, with both jaws fast set, so that they could not be pulled 

 open. Both of them were handsome male fish and must have 



