THE PIKE FAMILY. I43 



Striped and Fresh-water Bass, Trout, Weakfish, Barb, and Bed- 

 fish through the summer, at the end of a long line, he is apt 

 to think trolling for Pike stupid sport, notwithstanding the 

 importance attached to it by English anglers. There is one 

 recommendation to it, however ; it is apt to fill the creel, in 

 parts of the country where diminutive streams and ponds 

 furnish no other than small or worthless fish. 



It is scarcely necessary to say to a sagacious angler, that 

 the larger the run of Pike, the larger the bait to be used, and 

 as a consequence the larger the hook. "When the fish are 

 small — from three-quarters to a pound and a quarter — a 

 minnow the size of one's little finger is large enough ; if they 

 run two pounds and upward, a roach or chub of four or five 

 inches is better. A pike of four pounds will readily take a 

 roach of six inches. 



Pike-fishing is enjoyed much by the anglers of Virginia, 

 between tidewater and Blue Ridge, in the fall of the year. 

 The usual method is to bait one or more holes for Carp, as 

 they are called there (though truly Suckers). A half-peck 

 or so of coarse corn meal is made into a stiff dough, and 

 thrown in at intervals of two or three days, for a week or so, 

 to attract the Carp, which are fished for before breakfast, and 

 late in the afternoon. This food also draws the minnows, 

 and the small fry of course attract the "Jackfish," as the 

 Virginians call the Pike. 



Early on some frosty morning, then, the angler of the Old 

 Dominion may be seen wending his way to a baited hole, 

 preceded by a negro boy, with four or half a dozen pine poles 

 on his shoulder, and a chunk of corn bread in his hand, the 

 use of which I will mention anon. When he gets to the 

 baited hole, he proceeds deliberately to bait his Carp-hooks 

 with earth-worms, and drops them quietly in, some distance 

 out from the shore. Then with a small hook and line he 



