The Pike Family 149 



take more chances in subduing a fish within a 

 reasonable time. This is not because of reckless- 

 ness, or because she does not understand or 

 appreciate the tensile strength of her rod. On 

 the contrary, she knows her tackle well, and has 

 the utmost faith in its potentiality. I knew a 

 lady friend who was never more than thirty min- 

 utes in bringing to gaff any salmon of from 

 twenty-five to thirty pounds. And my Kentucky 

 friend, Mrs. Bachmann (formerly Mrs. Stagg), 

 killed her tarpon of two hundred and five pounds 

 in eighty minutes. 



THE EASTERN PICKEREL 



(Esox reticulatus) 



The eastern pickerel, also called chain pickerel 

 in the North, and jack in the South, was first 

 described by Le Sueur, in 1818, from the Con- 

 necticut River. He named it reticulatus, owing 

 to the " reticulations " or the netted character of 

 the markings on the body. 



Its range extends from Maine along the coast- 

 wise streams to Florida and Louisiana. West of 

 the Alleghanies it has been reported from the 

 Ozark region of Missouri and Arkansas, but I am 

 rather inclined to doubt it. 



