November, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
495 
a 
Pickerel 
done the hard-braided line is the one to 
use. True, it builds up faster on the reel 
spool and does not pack so neatly nor so 
closely as the soft-braided line, but it 
has the virtue of being exceedingly 
\ strong and will practically outlast three 
soft-braided lines. Furthermore, it does 
not fray. A good-sized reel to hold this 
line is, of course, necessary, but it is well 
not to have too big a one ; one with fairly 
large reel plates and wide quarters be- 
tween these plates (so that the line will 
not be cramped) is about right. There 
are many good reels of this trolling type 
to be had on the market in all variety 
of materials. One should have one bait- 
casting reel and one trolling reel in his 
outfit. And as for the rod, one has to 
choose according to his own pet notions 
as to what is best. I use steel rods a 
great deal, both in casting and in trolling. 
In the case of your steel bait-casting 
rod, there is a shortener with which the 
rod can be made into a most agreeable 
trolling appliance. This shortener can 
be obtained, generally, at any sporting 
goods store. You simply take off the 
ordinary casting tip and slip in the short- 
ener. This give you a stiff rod. It is a 
good precaution to take note of, for a 
slender casting tip (such as is used in 
bait-casting) does not seem to work well 
for heavy fishing. By using a shortener 
on your steel rod you save the buying 
of a trolling rod. With your bait-casting 
rod you therefore have two rods in one. 
There is such a thing as using a wire 
leader on your trolling line, and the vir- 
tue of it should not be lost track of. This 
leader does not have to be of great 
length; a foot or so is long enough. 
There are ready-made gimp leaders to 
be had, composed of fine brass wires 
braided to make a whole. A solid cop- 
per wire the caliber of a hatpin makes 
a good leader. In any case, whichever 
kind you have, be sure to use swivels 
in connecting the leader with the spoon- 
hook, as this prevents kinking of the 
line. 
And why should one use a wire or 
gimp leader ? It is this way : A hungry 
autumn pike or muskallunge is as savage 
a creature as swims water. When he 
discends open-jawed upon your lure he 
often “absorbs” not only the entire spoon 
in his mouth but a portion of the line. If 
the fight is a long one the line wearing 
back and forth across the sharp fangs 
may break ; the result being a lost fish — 
perhaps the biggest you will ever hook. 
Hence the short wire leader which wards 
i off the damaging teeth. 
I T can certainly be said that any time 
of the day in the autumnal season is 
a good one when out for these fishes ; but 
in the morning from seven to nine o’clock 
is the time that I have found best, and 
I say this after many years of fishing in 
b 
Pike 
DISTINGUISHING THE 
PIKES 
HE Aquarium is occasionally 
called upon to settle wagers of 
sport fishermen, as to whether their 
prize captures were pike or mus- 
kallunge. Quite as frequently the 
question is asked, What is the dif- 
ference between a pickerel and a 
pike? 
The most concise and lucid 
answer to these questions is an 
illustration appearing in a paper 
on the pikes, by William Converse 
Kendall of the U. S. Bureau of 
Fisheries, published in the Report 
of the Commissioner of Fisheries 
for 1917 . The illustration is here 
reproduced, for the benefit of our 
future disputants who may not be 
familiar with Mr. Kendall’s paper. 
First it zvill be noted that the 
pickerel, pike and muskallunge are 
all pikes Luciidae. Secondly, 
that the slight difference in the 
shape of the head would be of 
doubtful assistance to the angler in 
determining which species he had 
caught. Thirdly, that the only pos- 
itive means of identification is by 
the squamation — the arrangement 
of scales of the cheeks and gill 
covers. 
It will be observed that in the 
pickerel the cheek and gill cover 
are completely scaled; that in the 
muskallunge there are only a few 
scales behind the eye and on the 
upper half of the gill cover; while 
the pike is intermediate between 
the two, having the whole cheek 
and upper half of the gill cover 
scaled, the lozver half of the gill 
cover being unsealed. 
The muskallunge is generally 
stated to be the largest of the pikes ; 
but the common pike is known to 
have reached a greater weight, 
muskallunge not having been re- 
corded as weighing over 100 
pounds, while a 14 ^-pound pike is 
on record. The muskallunge aver- 
ages from twenty-five to eighty 
pounds, with a length of four feet, 
although it has been knoivn to at- 
tain eight feet; the American pike 
runs from five to forty pounds and 
reaches a length of four feet; and 
the pickerel runs from about four 
to fourteen pounds, with a length 
of from one to two feet. 
Large specimens of the pike and 
pickerel may easily be mistaken 
for muskallunge, and the angler 
will find an identification key use- 
ful. 
[/. M. M., in Zoological Society 
Bulletin.'] 
various waters. Then the sunshine is 
exceptionally sparkling and the big fel- 
lows are abroad. In the afternoon from 
two o’clock to evening is also good. 
When the waters of a lake are glassy 
smooth (as so often occurs in the 
autumn) it is better to cast for them than 
to row through their feeding places. 
The reason you will easily enough de- 
tect. The waves thrown out by the boat 
and attendant noises serve to put the fish 
on the lookout; whereas, if you cast 
there will be no particular sign of dis- 
turbance. The ideal trolling water is 
that which is rippled over by a light- 
blowing breeze. This off-sets the waves 
thrown out by the boat. The place to 
troll is alongside of the weed and pad 
thickets ; not too close, however, or you 
will hook into a weed which you may 
haul, unawares, around the lake. That 
is one of the faults to be found with 
trolling. It seems that however cau- 
tious and painstaking one may be, sooner 
or later he is going to hook into a weed. 
This necessitates pulling up the line now 
and then to see if all is clear. 
Usually one can tell by the vibration 
running along the line and in the rod 
whether or not the spoon is turning; and 
there is always a continual, noticeable 
dip, dip, dip of the rod tip, especially 
true if your rod is not too stiff. No 
doubt a great deal of the ill luck com- 
ing through trolling lies in the fact that 
one hooks up weeds and carries these 
along with him. Even a one-foot weed, 
of fragile proportions, carried along on 
the hook at once makes the fish cautious. 
I do not believe that any fish (save in 
wilderness lakes) has ever been caught 
on a lure towing a section of weed. 
The bulk of the time of the average 
troller is taken up in fishing over what 
we may term fishless areas. We may 
figure that two-thirds of the waters 
fished do not harbor the fish he is after; 
not that they are not in the lake, but 
simply that he has not gone to the places 
where they are generally found. If there 
are weeds and pads along the shore they 
will be found there. Inlet and outlet 
mouths are almost certain to be visited 
in the daily rounds. Around bays they 
will invariably be found, especially at 
the point where the indentation begins. 
Try also around the shores of islands, 
and troll around the coves. Off of a 
piece of land, that juts into the lake you 
will find them. Between an island and 
the mainland is almost certain to be a 
pass-way up and down which the big 
fellows make their way. 
Locate all these places and make every 
moment count. The average fisherman 
wastes most of his precious time in 
changing lures and working over fishless 
areas. 
The spoon-hook is, properly speaking, 
( Continued on page 522) 
