February, 1919 
FOREST AND STREAM 
69 
bigger one was looking on and likely as 
not trying to take the tempting morsel 
away from number one while the battle 
went on — I’ve watched this happen many 
times when using these flies — and when 
number one succeeding in spitting out the 
fly, number two, the big one, made a 
grand rush for it and beat his own pre- 
vious record over the same course. 
The most unusual feature of the trip 
was that they did not strike readily in 
the day time at any of our “bugs” except 
a rebuilt bug, having a pomegranate col- 
ored body, grey tail and snow white buck- 
tail wings. It looked like nothing living 
or dead, and Billy and I concluded it was 
just a case of visability and that it got 
’em because it got their eye by its size 
and light colors. 
S PEAKING of bugs — do you know the 
manufacturers of certain patent 
bugs? I do not, but I know their 
products and here’s a tip to the two of 
them, which if they’re receptive they’ll 
use. One man’s are the most lifelike and 
best wearing — but the other fellow’s are 
larger and will get bigger flsh and more 
flsh in deep, dark, or cloudy water. But 
— one of these bugs will last about one 
day in use. 
Now no real sportsman begrudg'es the 
fifty cents they cost each, but he hates to 
see his bug that is getting the fish going 
to pieces cast by cast till it has gone down 
so in bulk that it no longer attracts. The 
use of real bucktail hair seems to over- 
come this trouble and tying with waxed 
dental floss prevents slipping when dry. 
I suppose one reason they wear out 
quickly is that being bulky, though light, 
it is difficult to cast them with a single 
back and forward cast and almost every 
cast must be worked out with three, four, 
or even five false casts, so that one finally 
drops the fly forty-five to fifty feet away 
from the boat. The big fish are most 
often caught on long casts and after re- 
trieving the fly slowly until within fifteen 
or twenty feet of the boat, fully half the 
fish that rise will apparently see the boat 
and miss taking the fly. A line heavier 
than usual seems to assist in getting 
these big flies farther out. Oh, yest of 
course I make some of my own — weird 
creations — and possessing not a single 
stroke of art, but they appear attractive 
to the fish and most atrocious to my wife. 
who always jumps when she gets hold of 
one unexpectedly when emptying the 
pockets of my fishing clothes. They’re 
easy to make when you’ve learned how 
and I will tell you how in the next issue. 
J UST as the sun dipped behind a cedar 
covered bluff, we began to transfer 
our luggage from the boat to the car 
and in five minutes were climbing out of 
the canon toward the good road home. 
As we topped the last hill overlooking 
the lake its waters shown like molten 
copper as the slanting rays of Old Sol 
filtered through those same clouds in the 
west which had been one of the harbin- 
gers of good luck that we felt at the 
outset of the trip. The “change” was in 
the air but still deferred, and we all 
wished we might spend another day cast- 
ing the big “bugs” for the big bass. 
A few more miles and the lights are 
switched on, the mantle of night seems 
suddenly thrown about us and the events 
of the day glide into memories — memories 
fraught with all the glamor and glorious- 
ness that only the man who goes to the 
woods and waters for companionship can 
really understand. 
THE LEOPARD OF THE LAKE 
THE PICKEREL IS DISTINGUISHED BY ITS EXTREME VORACITY AND HUNGER 
SEEMS TO BE AT ALL TIMES THE PARAMOUNT ISSUE WITH THEM 
By LEONARD HULIT, Associate Editor of FOREIST AND STREAM 
I T is with some misgivings that I pre- 
pare a short article on the pickerel 
— not because my conceptions are not 
clear enough to me, but there has been 
in the years past so much confusion in 
relation to its proper classification and 
just what its relations to other closely 
allied species are, that there should be 
a distinct line of demarkation made and 
a thorough understanding had of this 
important angler’s favorite. 
To many, in fact to the majority of 
people the name “pike” is all embracing 
and includes the entire family of this 
species, when as a matter of fact there 
are very strong lines of distinction, and 
save in the general contour of body, the 
fish are quite dissimilar. There is, how- 
ever, one characteristic which is all-em- 
bracing and is no doubt one of the rea- 
sons why the average fisherman does not 
distinguish between the varieties, viz., 
the extreme voracity of all the family, 
and no matter where the specimen may 
be taken the same propensity exists. 
T he “pike” family is one of the old- 
est of which man has record, and 
in some of the varieties is native to 
all the northern and temperate zones. 
The most extravagant stories are extant 
in old volumes of the size and voracity 
of this fish as well as to the extreme 
age to which some of the old specimens 
have attained; these records, however, 
are of not much interest save us curios- 
ities at this date. It is rather the knowl- 
edge as to where and how this superb 
fish may be obtained that claims more 
attention, as well as to make clear the 
distinctive differences which exists. The 
family embraces the muskellunge, the 
“banded pickerel,” the “brown pickerel” 
or “pond pike,” and the very important 
“chain pickerel.” The latter is the fish 
that most anglers will meet with in 
nearly all the Atlantic coast states; it 
holds the anomolous position of being a 
“pike” while the true pike is never a 
“pickerel.” The contour of body, as well 
as the fin assemblage, is identical in all 
the species with the exception of the 
jaws, which in the pickerel are upper 
and lower, almost of the same length; 
while with the muskellunge and the pikes 
the upper jaw is much the shorter and 
fits into a groove in the lower jaw, when 
closed, in much the same manner as some 
of the crocodiles. Again, the markings 
on the pikes are either bands or mottled 
effects, while on the pickerel the succes- 
sion of well defined links resembling a 
chain are never absent and are one of 
the distinguishing features. This gave 
rise to the name, and in Colonial days it 
was given the distinguishing name of 
“federation pike” as these links are usu- 
ally thirteen in number along the central 
line, and are black, while the body is 
usually of a yellowish green shading to 
nearly white on the belly. 
While the average angler in from a 
trip will say he has had a good day 
with the pike and has taken maybe a 
half-dozen, the chances are strong that 
he has not taken one, particularly if he 
has been fishing near the seaboard any- 
where from Maine to the Gulf waters. 
While pike do exist in many of the waters 
where pickerel are met with, they are so 
small as a rule that they are usually 
termed “jack” and are thrown back into 
the water. If the fisherman was at all 
observant his entire catch would reveal 
that pickerel were on his string. 
A nother important feature belong- 
ing to this fish is that he alone of 
all his tribes visits salt water and 
that is why I have included it among 
these sketches. If there are any other 
of his relatives that have this habit I 
have never met with it, neither have I 
ever heard that such was the case. While 
it is regarded as strictly a fresh water 
fish, and can and does live where it can- 
not reach brackish water, still it is more 
abundant in streams where they empty 
into rivers and bays and is to be met 
with far below salt water limits. This 
is particularly true of Barnegat Bay. I 
know of no stream which empties into 
that important body of water which is 
not prolific of the pickerel. The Metede- 
conk river. Cedar creek, Tom’s river and 
all the adjacent streams are at the 
proper season the best of localities for 
the sport. I have fished over all the 
above mentioned waters for many years 
and, as a matter of fact, do not permit 
a season to pass without one or more 
trials over the grounds that have been 
mentioned. In my boyhood days I have 
seen these same streams netted and tons 
of pickerel taken, always drawing the 
nets where the streams entered the salt 
water bodies. Of course in those days 
there were no restrictions on netting and 
the slaughter of these fish was at times 
prodigious; and I would not be at all 
