The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1882-01-20

Al this time Of year there n Nd more
exciting sport than pickcrcl fishing
through the ice. And. taking the whole
year round. Maine sportsmen have no
pursuit that Is more cxhilamtine. Pick.
ercl bite well after the ponds have lust
frozen over, and the fishermen like 70
ge' on the ice about as soon Is Il will
bear their weight. Talk with IN incor-
riglb'e angler for half an hour and YOU
will generally find him full Of old chin
~ncy-corner snpcrsfitions and traditions
Of the forest and stream. One ii the
current beliefs Is that the first time q
green hand goes out he Il bound 10 have
good luck. Another tradition il 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. il your pickerel bait
were peaches and cream. The p~iscafo-
rial belief in the influence Of the signs If
the almanac il profound. And your sly
old fisherman generally consnlts his A.
manac before he catches his bait.
When the signs are in the belly they'll
bite well every time. / don't know
what the meaning Of Il Is. hut | s'pose
they're hungry" said a veteran whom
we consulted on the zodiacal question.
Fish will not bite well when they are
spawning. Their many traits afford 4
wide range for study. !" Fish are dread
full contrary critters" is the way the
aforesaid veteran sums up his philoso-
ply. When the pickercl 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 70 them. The pickerel doesn't rel
ish Head food. and must be caught with
live bait. The fun Of pickcrel- fishing i
in your ability 10 have 80 MANY strings
a-going at once. Twenty-Five is a fair
number, although two men can fish with
forty. Cutting the holes through the
ice il fun. If you have a sharp chisel and
the Ice isn't over four inches thick. but
when yon have two feet Of solid freeze
undcr You and an old ax with which to
penetrate il, it's more like business. Two
men generally 60 together. and one sets
the sticks and arranrcs the lines while
tt* ttHEt <Nt1 tAH AlNtt@s AiE IIIUII WHO
sets the lines first gets the bottom and
adjusts his bait about two feet above il
more or less, perhaps. according 10
his own idea Of the correct thing. The
lines are attached 70 poles set in the ice
at an angle Of about forty-fiye degrees
over the holes. Each line is also looped
over q bob screwed loosely on the pole,
50 that when a pickcrel bites and darts
of, the bob Is turned and forms q cross
with the longer stick. thus s;snalizing
the fisherman. One Of the ways Of the
pickerel is to chew his bait q little while,
and this is in favor Of his catcher. When
the pickerel commence TO bite before the
lines are all set. as they frequently do,
the excitement is AZ Its pitch. There
goes one,' shouts one man. There's
a~nother'' shouts his chum, dropping his
AK and running to pull him up. and
when the twenty-five Or forty lines are
All in. and are pulling sharp, who then
wouldn't be 2 pickereI isher?-Lewiston
(1fc.) Journal.