272-0 RECREATION 
and will endure the hardest sort of usage. 
This rod of mine is not pretty. It lacks 
considerable of being perfectly straight, but 
it does excellent work. It is much stronger 
than any cheap split bamboo that I have 
seen and at the same time the spring, the 
‘*feel,” the. “thang’’ 4s" perfect. Nos one. 1s 
likely to steal it, and should I break it, fifteen 
cents and half an hour’s work will replace it. 
I like it very much on the lake or river, and so 
I am sure will any one who gets one made that 
just ‘‘fits’” him. Such a rod is stronger than 
any other—save the highest priced split bamboo. 
One of the best features of my rod is the 
fact that it has no joint. It can, therefore, be 
made shorter, as you get the benefit of the 
spring throughout the whole length of the 
rod. There is no unyielding ferrule just where 
you wish for elasticity. The tip is simply 
pushed into the butt, which has been bored out 
to receive it, some cord or a bit of cloth being 
wound on the inserted end to make it fit tightly. 
Possibly some casters may prefer a longer rod, 
but I consider a suitable “‘spring” and “‘hang”’ 
more essential than a certain length. Your 
rod should fit you, and its length is very largely 
a matter of individual preference. But by all 
means have no joint. For casting, its length 
should at least not exceed your height. 
My reel was bought several years ago, and 
although it has had much hard use it seems 
to be as good to-day as ever. It spins like a 
top and makes no noise. It is a quadruple, 
too yards, with hard rubber plates, and cost 
me three dollars. It is strong, light, silent and 
almost frictionless. Perhaps even a cheaper 
one might give satisfaction, but an easy runner 
is absolutely essential. Without this very 
necessary quality your reel is only a clumsy 
windlass. That it may last well the gears 
should be of brass, meshing with steel. This 
reduces wear and friction to a minimum. 
Eighty or too yards is the proper size. 
Have line enough to nicely fill the spool of 
the reel. That next the shaft may be any 
strong cotton line you may secure. But the 
outer part should be of strong silk, solid, hard 
braided and without a core. When you throw 
half a dollar’s worth of artificial bait fifty feet 
out in the lake you want to feel reasonably sure 
of reeling it in again. So I buy twenty-four- 
pound test line. Twenty-five yards will do 
for practical fishing, though twice that amount 
is sometimes convenient, especially if you chance 
to break off a few feet. In fishing in pike- 
infested water, use a small copper wire leader 
twelve to fifteen inches long. If you do not 
some day you will lose a big fellow and bait of 
more or less value. You are also quite likely 
to lose’ your temper at the same time. 
The tackle described is equally satisfactory 
for live or for artificial bait-casting, though for 
smallish live minnows or frogs the tip should 
be less stiff than for the usual wooden minnow. 
Finally, on figuring up, the account will 
stand about as follows: Butt Soc., tip 15C., 
reel $1.50 to $3, line 50c., wooden minnow Soc., 
spoon troc., weedless and other hooks 25c.; 
total, $3.50 to $5. You need spend no more to 
have efficient and good-working tackle, and you 
are prepared for almost all sorts of inland lake 
and river fishing. 
Now may success attend you. 

Autumn Fishing 
BY JACK A. DOW 
When the glories of summer have departed, 
and the salmon, instead of being a bar of silver 
and a vigorous gladiator, has become a slimy, 
misshapen thing, hideous to behold and unfit 
for food; when the brook trout is no longer 
jumping at the fly, but is seeking the spawning 
beds and is disdainful of.any lure, the angler 
turns his attention to fish that he would not 
have condescended to fish for early in the 
season. Then it is that Brother Pike comes 
into the game, for the pike and the pickerel, 
also that nearly extinct fish the mascalonge, 
are at their best during the cool autumn days 
when the waters are as calm as glass and as 
cold as steel, and the brown leaves are being 
scattered by each chilly gust. It is well that 
things are thus, for many men would rather 
fish than eat, and if it were not for the pike 
family there would be very little to fish for 
at that season. . 
Let us take the pike as a representative of 
his family, though to our taste the pike-perch 
is a better fish. He is found from the extreme 
North to the Middle States and wherever he 
is found he is fished for with more or less en- 
thusiasm. The biggest I ever saw weighed 
18 pounds, but trustworthy authorities say they 
have grown to much heavier weights, and, 
according to some English writers, have been 
taken heavier than an ordinary ten-year-old 
boy. Whether they are good eating or not 
depends upon the waters they inhabit. If you 
catch them in a clear Northern lake late in the 
fall, I think they are every bit as good as black 
bass; on the other hand, taken from some 
warm, muddy pond in the height of summer, 
their flesh would not be considered appetizing 
except by a half-starved man. Then the 
cooking makes quite a difference. In Europe 
the monks and friars used to cultivate the pike 
because he would live in a fish-stew in the 
priory grounds, and in course of time they 

