FISH AND FISHING. 



HOW TO CATCH PIKE. 



Mr. Estabrook asks for instruction as 

 to taking pike and lake trout. I am an old 

 fisherman, and will tell what I have learned 

 by experience. 



Use a black bass bait rod with 50 feet of 

 waterproof silk line and a reel of suitable 

 size. Leader should be 3 yards long, of 

 twisted double gut. Hooks, either No. 1, 

 2 or 3 Sproat, snelled or 14 inches of twisted 

 double gut. Between line and leader put 

 a medium sized swivel. Two feet above the 

 swivel put a large split shot. 



Row against the wind and let your boat 

 float to leeward, broadside on. Or anchor, 

 20 to 50 yards from shore, and try still fish- 

 ing. Pay out 20 or 30 yards of line, accord- 

 ing to the depth of water. Cast your bait 

 as far as possible, and draw it in slowly. 

 Keep your bait always near the bottom. 

 Watch out, for the pike takes bait with a 

 swift strike. 



When first brought near the boat he will 

 go down with all his might. Then handle 

 him carefully or you or he will break some- 

 thing. The best time for fishing is from 

 daylight to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to sunset. An 

 hour or 2 before sundown the big fellows 

 come from deep water to near the shore, 

 to feed on small fish. 



Live bait is always the best; small fish 

 2 to 3 inches long. Frogs of medium size 

 are also good. I prefer to hook live bait, 

 both fish and frogs, from below upward, 

 through the lips. Then they follow your 

 line head first and swimming. A fish 

 hooked through the upper fin follows 

 broadside on. 



It is a good plan to have a sinker line to 

 measure the depth of water in which you 

 fish. Use a 2 ounce sinker and knot the line 

 every 5 feet; 1 knot at 5 feet, 2 knots at 10 

 feet and so on. 



W. I., Lake Ronkonkoma, N. Y. 



Gelborah, Burlington, N. J., asks in May 

 Recreation, how and by what bait pike 

 can be caught. He will find a spoon, arti- 

 ficial or natural minnow — the last, for 

 choice — trolled or spun after a boat or 

 from the shore, will take them. But the 

 best bait is a live frog or minnow— the lat- 

 ter about 5 inches long. Use a couple of 

 treble hooks, one to hang about 2 inches 

 below the bait. Put an ounce sinker a foot 

 above the bait. Then a cork float 18 inches 

 above that. Strike the fish about ^2 a min- 

 ute after he has taken the bait. This is so 

 sure a way, that I know many waters where 

 it is strictly prohibited. 



S. Howarth, Florissant, Col. 



FLY FISHING FOR DORE AND PIKE. 



Merrill, Wis. 



Editor Recreation: Having just fin- 

 ished reading the excellent contribution of 

 W. F. J. McCormick, " The Upper Mis- 

 tassini," in January Recreation, I would 

 like to give my experience in regard to the 

 question Mr. McCormick puts to his read- 

 ers, viz.: Whether it is not an unusual 

 thing for the dore and pike to take the ar- 

 tificial fly. 



During July of last year, 2 gentlemen of 

 this city and I went on a fishing trip up the 

 Wisconsin river. We left the little flag 

 station of Garland Switch, about 20 miles 

 North of Merrill, and struck through the 

 dense forests of hemlock and pine for our 

 camping grounds, 2 miles away. We were 

 well supplied with provisions, and one of 

 the party was acquainted in the neighbor- 

 hood, having camped there on previous 

 fishing trips. He was sure we could get a 

 boat from a settler in the vicinity, and by 

 the aid of it reach the opposite bank, where 

 a creek, teeming with minnows, was to 

 furnish all the bait we needed. 



But we found that the settler had not 

 only departed for regions unknown, but 

 had taken his canoe with him. What was to 

 be done? The creek was on the other side 

 of the river in plain view, but reach it we 

 could not. Rummaging about in my pack, 



1 noticed my fly-book, and proceeded to rig 

 my line with a 6-foot gut leader; using a 

 Reuben Wood bass fly as a dropper and a 

 scarlet ibis as a stretcher. As it was near 

 the dinner-hour, I put off the fishing until 

 later and we 3 attended to the cravings of 

 the inner man. Dinner over the other gen- 

 tlemen went skirmishing about for frogs 

 and mussels. In the meantime, I tried my 

 cast of flies, wading near the shore, hoping 

 to catch a few small bass or perch for sup- 

 per. I had a rise at the first cast, and suc- 

 ceeded in taking a bass, small-mouth, of 

 about 3 pounds. Encouraged by this suc- 

 cess, I continued, and took that afternoon 



2 bass, 2 pike and 2 wall-eyes, or dore, with 

 several smaller fish of the variety called, in 

 the South, crappie. They call them silver- 

 bass here. Well, those bass-flies kept the 

 camp in fish for 4 days. Every variety of 

 fish known to inhabit the Wisconsin, ex- 

 cepting the muskalonge, took them, and 

 took them greedily. It did not seem to 

 make any difference, either, what flies were 

 used; they would go at a white miller with 

 the same reckless abandon as at a black 

 June. It was only in the late afternoon, 

 however, that they seemed to turn their at- 

 tention to flies. In the forenoon and early 

 afternoon my companions were more suc- 



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