172 PICKEREt. 



true way in open water is to fish for him; with a speon. 

 The last is objected to as being too destructive; but as it 

 is clean, requires no bait, and is little trouble, and as the 

 fish are utterly worthless either for sport or the table, the 

 sooner they are destroyed and replaced by nobler sub- 

 stitutes the better. 



Among the water-lilies the only mode is to use a long, 

 stiff rod and short line, loaded with one buck-shot about 

 a foot from the hook, and baited either with a minnow, 

 the belly of a yellow perch, or better than all, a slip of 

 the skin of pork cut into something resembling a small 

 fish. The latter never wears out, and can hardly be torn 

 off, while it often is preferred to more natural food. 

 The bait is dropped into the opening among the lily-pads, 

 and sinking rapidly, by the weight of the shot, toward 

 the bottom, is started up again by a twitch of the rod, 

 and goes bobbing up and down till the pickerel, ren- 

 dered frantic by such an absurd performance, can stand 

 it no longer, and with one furious rush determines to end 

 the gyrations of such a silly creature. Never wait for 

 pickerel to gorge the bait, discard such old fogy notions, 

 and by the aid of a strong rod and line, pull him out at 

 once. At least one-half the time fish eject the bait instead 

 of swallowing it, and no one who has ever eaten pork 

 can question their taste. Waiting five or ten minutes, 

 or tiE they make two or three runs, will not do in our 

 rapid country. I have seen fish that were corpulent with 

 over-feeding, and surrounded by their favorite food, 

 young herring, taken by a piece of themselves being 

 spun in this manner, when they would touch no other 

 bait. 



