September, 1918 
FOREST AND S T REA M 
533 
An afternoon on the lakes, a hearty supper in camp, and a try at the streams at sunset, make a happy day 
open, and assumed a careless, nonchalant 
air until it did. 
Onward and onward into this beautiful 
region we traveled farther and farther 
north, paddling, Ashing, singing, carrying 
our packs with good grace, and sleeping 
at night under the stars. We were happy 
indeed. When meal-time came we were 
always ready for it, and long before. Af¬ 
terwards we would light our pipes, and 
stroll along some wooded path, all the 
while talking about the big fellows we had 
caught that day, and some of the bigger 
ones that got away. 
We found fine sport in a lake where 
only twelve white men had ever been. It 
was here that we made the great catch 
of black bass. There was no well-defined 
trail leading to this lake, only a blazed 
one. The Indian who had blazed it was 
our head guide. The black bass fishing 
there, if equalled, was never excelled. 
Sometimes they seem to bite too fast. Just 
about once in a life-time we have that ex¬ 
perience; this is where I had mine. You 
will note that I do not divulge the name 
of this lake. It is, and shall be, nameless. 
We arrived home feeling well and happy, 
filled with the recollections that only such 
a trip can afford. I have always fished for 
the love of the sport, mostly for love of 
the Great Outdoor World and the joy of 
freedom under the open sky. 
STILL-FISHING FOR WALL-EYED PIKE 
THIS METHOD INVOLVES THE SOUND PRINCIPLE THAT IT IS EASIER TO LET 
THE PIKE COME TO YOU THAN TO ROW WEARY MILES SEEKING THE PIKE 
T HE usual way to catch pike is to troll 
for them, either with live bait or a 
spoon of some kind. I often fish in 
this way, when going from one part of the 
lake to another. Last summer I got sev¬ 
eral good pike trolling with a green and 
yellow bait. However, this way of fishing 
involves a great deal of rowing, and some¬ 
times one covers a surprising amount of 
ground without getting a strike. 
I have had my greatest success by an¬ 
choring and “still” fishing for pike, in much 
the same way as we fish for bass. The 
hook I generally use corresponds to a num¬ 
ber 4 Sproat, and is snelled to a single gut. 
The leader is six feet, also of single gut. 
It is almost • unnecessary to say that the 
gut must be like Caesar’s wife—above sus¬ 
picion. A pike weighing seven or eight 
pounds will soon show where the leader is 
flat or frayed. I use an enameled silk line 
at least 150 feet long, and a good split 
bamboo rod; a steel rod will do just as 
well. The rod, of whatever kind, must be 
strong without being stiff; a stiff rod will 
pull the hook out of the mouth of almost 
any kind of fish; as a matter*of experi¬ 
ence, this often explains the loss of the 
big one. In casting plug bait, we lose al¬ 
most fifty per cent, of the strikes, and I 
am certain the stiff rod accounts for a 
good deal of the loss. 
I measure the depth of water in which 
I am going to fish; suppose it is forty feet, 
I then measure about thirty-five feet up 
the line including the leader, and here I 
tie a piece of string or silk round the line. 
Then I take a cork float, weighing about 
an ounce or a little more, the kind used in 
sea fishing with a hole through the quill in 
the center. I put the float onto the line, 
passing the line through the hole in the 
float in the usual way; then tie the leader 
By JOHN BARLOW 
to the line. I put six split shot on the 
leader, about four inches apart. Then I 
get a live minnow—the more alive the bet¬ 
ter—hook it through the back just in front 
of the dorsal fin, and throwing the bait into 
the water, I allow the line to pass through 
the float until it comes to the knot, which 
is thirty-five feet away from the bait. Then 
I backwater the boat eighty or ninety feet 
towards the shore, and if possible over 
some rocks, here I anchor and begin fish¬ 
ing for bass, at the same time keeping an 
eye on the float, waiting for something to 
turn up like one of Dickens’ famous char¬ 
acters. If the water near the float is not 
disturbed by some one rowing over it, in 
ten or fifteen minutes I often get a bite; 
the float disappears. I always give the 
pike plenty of time with the bait, three or 
even five minutes if the bait is large, so 
that he can get it well into his mouth, for 
he has to be caught and played with a 
single hook, consequently one must get a 
good hold. By all means raise the anchor 
of your boat before you strike the fish, 
then you are able to take him out into deep 
water, or to follow him if he makes up his 
mind to go to the other side of the lake. 
Moving away from the rocks, where you 
have been anchored fishing for bass, will 
also prevent the line from becoming en¬ 
tangled in the stones when playing the fish. 
Get into deep water as soon as you can 
whenever you hook a big fish. 
T HIS method of fishing is not compli¬ 
cated, though my description of it 
may suggest that it is; one thing is 
certain, it gets the pike and other big fish 
as well, at least that is my experience. 
Now a word as to the reason for some of 
the things that have to be done. The split 
shot on the leader makes it certain that the 
bait will have to go down thirty-five feet, 
and stay at that depth. Having the shot 
spread out in the way in which I have sug¬ 
gested, makes it easy for the bait to swim 
round; a minnow can easily carry two or 
three split shot, but an ounce sinker would 
soon kill it, anyhow the bait could not 
move about so freely with a solid weight 
like that. The float prevents the minnow 
from going down to the bottom and hiding 
amongst the rocks or weeds—a thing that 
generally happens when one is anchored 
and using live bait. Six split shot are suf¬ 
ficient to keep the bait down, and also to 
counteract the buoyancy of the float, so 
that a small' fish can easily take it under. 
The knot on the line keeps the bait at the 
right depth, for it stops the line going 
through the float at the place where it is 
tied. It is better to tie a piece of silk or 
string round the line than to knot the line 
itself, that has a tendency to break the 
enamel, and further, the silk winds very 
easily through the guides when reeling the 
fish in; when this is being done, the float 
naturally slips down the line to the leader 
knot, which is only six feet away from the 
fish, making the netting of the fish an easy 
matter even when alo’ne in the boat. 
A frog or any other kind of live bait can 
be used in this way. First find out where 
the pike are in the lake, then proceed as I 
have suggested. Some may have doubts 
about the single gut leader being strong 
enough, I can only say I have never lost a 
pike through the leader breaking. I make 
my own leaders and I find this more satis¬ 
factory and cheaper than buying them 
ready made. I have tried wire and gimp 
for leaders, but have not had much suc¬ 
cess with either. When one is trolling for 
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