Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-07-21
FISH STORIES.

FISH STORIES.
TRUE TALES OF ALLEGHENY RIVER
PloKEREL.
There are very large pickere in the
Allegheny river, says a Roulette, Pa,
correspondent of the New York Sun.
Some miles below here, where the water
deepens and widens, ten, and even twelve
Founders are not uncommon. Some
fishermen declare that these fish are not
picllerel but muskallonge or a cross be-
tween the big lake pike and muskallonge.
Be that as it may, they are undoubtedly
the most voracious of all members of
the notably voracious pickerel family.
1t is favorite sport along the river to
shoot these big fish, rifles being used.
The hunter climbs a tree that stands
close to the edge of some deep pool in
the river, and from his perch he can see
far into the waters depths. If there are
pickerel they are plainly visible. If the
day is sunny the pickerel are pretty sure
to come up now and then and lie close
to the surface, as still as stones, for
several minutes at time. Then the
hunter picks out his game and puts a
bullet in it. If the pickerel is not killed
instantly, his foundering is sure to
bring others up, curious to see what the
trouble Is, and if the man in the tree is
handy with his gun he can bag two or
three more before they take the alarm
and dart down out of sight, If for some
reason no pickerel come voluntarily to
the surface to take their sun bath, they
may be called up by the hunter dropping
bits of bright colored paper or cloth on
the water. Some curious old pickerel is
sure to come up cautiously to inspect
the object, giving the man in the tree
his opportunity.
Many Instances of the extreme voraci-
ty of these Allegheny river pickerel are
on record, but none gives the palm to
them ON this score more indisputably
than one that occurred near Portville,
at the New York State line, couple of
days ago, to fisherman named Sart-
well. In fishing TO- picllerel in the
the spoon troll is the favOrite
lure. but now and then fishermen will
try for them with live bait, good-sized
club being the favorite bait, one six or
even eight inches long not being thought
any too large to catch those pickerel
with. As "A general thing anglers are
satisfied to use tackle that will capture
only one pickerel at time, their sizes
being such that one on the line will give
the fisherman all the sport he wants in
landing it. But Sartwell had visions of
the high old time he would have if by
any possibility he could get two, or per-
haps three, of the big fellows Oh his line
at once, so he put three hooks on his
line, about four feet apart, and baited
each with a seven-inch cub. He had
fished some time without obtaining any
evidence that his abundant bait was any
inducemert to pickerel, when suddenly
he got tremendous strike. He gave
the fish plenty of line and time to gorge
the bait and hook, and presently got an
other big strike.
"Two of 'em on suTem said Sartwell.
This second strike was soon after
ward followed by a third, and then
concluded that he was in for
business. The three fish, as he sup
posed, gave HIM stiff fight, but he final
~ got his catch to the boat and INTO it,
when, to his surprise, he found that in
stead of three pickerel he had only one,
that one was good ten-pound-
err. Sartwell was a great deal more
surprised when he went to take the big
fish off the hook, for it had every one of
the three seven-inch clubs in his mouth
and all three of the hooks were fast in
his jaw. The pickerel had struck the
first club, got it in his mouth, and hook
ed himself. But he didn't mind a little
thing like two-inch hook in his jaw
when he saw another tempting club
Just ahead of him, making frantic efforts
to get out of his way, and he went for
that one to make sure of 1t. lie half
swallowed that one and got the second
hook In his jaw. Even that wasn't
sufficient to overcome his great vorac-
ty, and he lunged ahead and snapped up
tile third club, and welcomed another
hook to his jaw. How many more clubs
and hooks he would have gone on COB