The Wall-Eyed Pike 273 



dropped a foot from the cliff and allowed to drift dry 

 fashion, then cast again around in a circle until the fly sank, 

 allowing it to go down a few feet. 



It was just at dusk, the very hour for the* big nocturnal 

 perch, and I had just lifted my tip when something struck, 

 bang! I was not expecting such luck, for I had been trying 

 for this fish for days in different parts of the river. At 

 first I thought the steady strain was suggestive of a pickerel, 

 but when thirty feet of line had been forced from the reel, 

 the fish began a peculiar jerking or hammering on the line 

 which kept my rod nodding, reminding me of the Chinook 

 salmon in Monterey Bay, which often gives you blow after, 

 blow. 



It was some moments before I could stop the fish, as it 

 had made for deep water, and taken us out into the stream, 

 but when I reeled it to the surface how it tugged and pulled ! 

 shooting from side to side in gallant fashion, its glassy eyes 

 flashing, altogether a game fish of goodly parts. In about 

 ten minutes I had it alongside and Bill netted my first wall- 

 eyed pike, one of the epochs in the life of at least one angler. 

 It was a darker, richer green than any I had seen, doubtless 

 due to the clear cold waters. 



The fly being unsuccessful on a second trial, I tried a min- 

 now in the dusk and caught three fine fish, and doubtless 

 could have lured others in the darkness ; the largest weighed 

 four pounds, and the smallest two and a half. 



In my experience, this fish is not a common catch in this 

 part of the river, and is found only in deep and rocky places, 

 where the water is cool and clear. I never saw one which 

 would weigh over five pounds, but I have heard of individ- 

 uals ranging up to thirty pounds, and even more. 



One day in following along the shores of La Rue, casting 

 and trolling, I took a pickerel with a fly. To my amaze- 

 ment, it went wriggling into the air, as I am told big mus- 

 kallunge always do, dropped, and with a swing, threw itself 

 around on the surface of the water and then took fifty feet 



