192 SPINY-FINNED FISHES 



north of the Ohio and Missouri valleys from Maine to Iowa 

 and INIinnesota. In most of the lakes, ponds and fresh- 

 water bays of New England generally it is fairly abundant. 

 Its rule of life is to bite at everything that is offered at the 

 end of a line — angle-worm, minnow, grasshopper, frog-leg, 

 trolling spoon and fly, either natural or hand-made. The size 

 of this fish varies from half a pound to 3 pounds, with a 

 possible 43^; and in length it measures from 7 to 12 inches. 

 The latest figures in existence at this date (1914) showing 

 an annual catch of Yellow Perch are as follows: 



Northeastern states (1905), 10,000 pounds, worth $800 



Middle Atlantic states (1904), 471,893 " " 19,108 



South Atlantic states (WOi), 10.5,99^2 " " 5,639 



587,885 " " $25,547 



The Yelloav Pike-Perch^ is frequently called the Yel- 

 LOAV "Pike" and Wall-Eyed "Pike"; but it is not a real 

 pike at all. The real pike is a blood brother to the muskal- 

 lunge. The Pike-Perches have two prominent dorsal fins, the 

 real pikes only one. 



Twice in trolling with hand-lines I have caught my spoon 

 full of eel-grass. On hauling in to clear the tackle, each 

 time the eel-grass turned out to be an 8-pound Yellow Pike- 

 Perch. The first one came into the boat like a bunch of wet 

 weeds. The second finally roused to a realizing sense of its 

 position, and made (juite a demonstration, but chiefly in the 

 lioat, endeavoring to climb out. 



In the eastern United States this is a northern fish that 

 goes southward almost to the Gulf states. It is abundant in 



' Sti-zos-ted'i-on vit're-um. 



