PICKEREL TROLLING IN SPRING 43 



Other shapes of allures are sometimes very 

 successful in trolling. Fig. 23 shows a shape 

 that can be cut out of tin, and will serve, though 

 of course nothing beats the spoon amongst the 

 fancy baits. I have sometimes made a rough-and- 

 ready arrangement answer admirably, as I did once 

 last spring. It was this way. I was passing by 

 a famous hole in the river near where I live, and 

 in the bright warm beams I saw a four to five 

 pound pickerel basking near the shore. How to 

 capture him I had not the least idea ; but I sat 

 down on a stone and began a search in my 

 pockets. Item i, a pair of nail shears, small, but 

 strong ; item 2, a piece of silk fish-line about four 

 yards long, and strong ; item 3, a jackknife ; item 

 4, some pieces of lead ; item 5, an eel-hook, large, 

 and ringed at end of shank. This is what I did. I 

 cut a pole and tied my line securely to it ; next 

 I looked around, and, this being a well-known 

 sucker pool, I found an old tin worm-box. With 

 the shears (I confess I spoiled them), I cut a piece 

 of tin in the shape of a fish, roughly fashioned, 

 of course ; and with one of the points I bored 

 a hole in both ends of the bait. In one hole I 

 slipped the ring of the hook, and closed it tight 



