THE PIKE FAMILY. JgiJ 



are spoken of where the weight was as much as seventy- 

 pounds. 



Angling for Mascalonge is the same as for Pickerel, the 

 spoon being almost universally used. They are active, and 

 have more pluck than the large Pickerel ; though any'angler 

 who holds a stout trolling-rod, with a good multiplying- 

 reel and a hundred yards of good line, if he is cool and waits 

 assiduously on his enemy, is sure of him. I had rather trust 

 to a good grip on the nape of the neck, than to a gaff-hook in 

 getting one into the boat. 



I know of old anglers who have experienced better things, 

 who make long excursions in pursuit of Mascalonge, who will 

 sit on a cushioned seat with a cushioned back in the stern of 

 a boat, and suffer themselves to be pulled about all day, with 

 a trolling-rod extended from each side. I never could appre- 

 ciate this inactive mode of taking fish, which is little better 

 than cockney punt-fishing, and does not require one-tenth the 

 skill. If spoon-fishing had been practised in Maelzel's day, 

 and that ingenious man had been an angler, no doubt he 

 would have constructed an automaton Pickerel-fisher. 



