St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-01-21
Pickerel Fishing Through the LIE.

At this time of year there is no more
exciting sport than pickerel fishing
through the ice And, taking the whole
year round, Maine sportsmen have no
pursuit that is more exhilarating. Pick
erel bite well after the ponds have just
frozen over, and the fishermen like to
get on the ice about as soon as it will
bear their weight. Talk with an incor-
rigible angler for half an hour and you
will generally find him full of old CHM
ney-corner superstitions and traditions
of the forest and stream. One of the
current beliefs is that the first time u
green hard goes out he is bound to have
good luck. Another tradition is that
pickerel sometimes swim Or scoot on \
down grade, and sometimes on an up
grade, and that when they have their
noses pointed toward the bottom you
cant catch one, if your pickerel bait
were peaches and cream. The piscato
rial belief in the influence of the signs of
the almanac is profound. And your sly
old fisherman generally consults his al
manac before he catches his bait.
"When the signs are in the belly they IL
bite well every time. l don't know
what the meaning of it is. but | S pose
they're hungry said veteran whom
we consulted on the zodiacal question.
Fish will not bite well when they are
spawning. Their many traits afford a
wide range for study. Fish are dread
full contrary critters is the way the
aforesaid veteran sums up his philoso-
ply. When the pckerel fisher finds
| the signs and the weather right, he
takes his dip-net and goes down to the
river after live minnows for bait. These
foolish little fish are attracted into
the fine meshes by meal literally
fed to them The pickerel doesn' t rel
ish dead food and must be caught with
live bait. The fun of fredericksburg is
in your ability to have SO many strings
a-going at once. Twenty-Five is fair
number, although two men can fish with
forty. Cutting the holes through the
ice is fun. if YOU have sharp chisel and
the ice isn't ever four inches thick. but
when YOU have two feet of solid freeze
under YOU and an old ak with which tc
penetrate it, it S more like business. Two
men generally go together, and one sets
the sticks and arranges the lines while
! the other cuts the holes. The man who
sets the lines first gets the bottom ant
adjusts his bait about two feet above il
more or less, perhaps, according t.
his own idea of the correct thing. The
lines are attached to poles set in the ICE
at an angle of about forty-tive degree:
over the holes. Each line is also loopec
over bob screwed loosely on the pole
so that when pickerel bites and dart
off, the bob is turned and forms a eros:
with the longer stick, thus signallzins
the fisherman. One Of the ways of thu
pickerel is to chew his bait little while
and this is in favor of his catcher. Whe,
the pickerel commence to bite before thu
lines are all set, as they frequently do
the excitement is at its pitch. '.Ther'
goes onen' shouts one man. "There'
another!' shouts his chum, dropping hi
AK and running to pull him up, ant
when the twenty-five or forty lines ar
all in, and are pulling sharp, who the,
wouldn't be pickerel fisher?-Lewisto'
(lMe.) Journal.