The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-09
CAUGHT A TRIPLE PICKEREL.
FARMER LEONARD TELLS WHAT
REAL FISHING rs.
4 ME One That Kept Him Rus, Attending
10 Three Ttp-tps or the Ice at Niger
Pond Landlord Tells How He
Knew the Exact weight Of q Fish.

sent word down from his place AT Glenmere
that he would he willing 10 bet quite n little
that nobody had ever known or heard OF
such pickerel fishing through the ice a. his
lake was just then turning out; and Mike
Pendy, tintinnabulator OF the bell on the
Rowland House cash register, took a day
on and went up to Glenmere 10 see whether
ii would be safe to take Genes bet.
He found that II would not and when he
came back he had such a mess OF big pick
erel that IL old Izaak Walton could have
seen 4, he would forthwith have added
a chapter to his book that would have
seemed exceeding like a fish story.
Farmer Bill Leonard. who lives opposite
Goose Pond Mountain. and knows when 10
swop horses and when not 70. counted the
pickerel. Sixty-three. Pound and a half
up to three pounds they weighed out.
Nice lot, said Farmer Leonard. Real
nice lot. Fact Is. II there was only about a
dozen more Of EN-, and they ran from
two pounds and a quarter to five pounds
and six ounces, they'd come In a pretty
close second to a mess ] caught once in
Niger Pond"
Mike Pendy put his fish in the icebox
and slammed the door,
don't see what was TO hinder you going
up to Glenmere yourself and taking Gene
Cables betl" said he.
Didn't want his money" said Farmer
Leonard. THAT fve-pound- and -a-half Mig
ger Pond pickerel Of mine had an appetite
on him worse than a hired mans.
1T was a cold day and / was stamping
around on the ice to keep my feet warm
when, dip down went one Of my tip-ups
with so much vim that I knew we'd have
TO use the biggest dripping pan we had at
horne when we baked the pickerel that was
m~onkeying with that line, and / wasn't
more than the smallest space Of a stop
watch getting TO that hole in the ice.
But before l got to II, zip! another tip-up.
not far from the first one. left Its feet. and
right after II a third one went up in the air
'Ringbones a-humpin' = said /. II /
land all three o. them pickerel I'll have
enough Ash meat TO last till spring.
Il grabbed the first line. and had a fight,
] tell you. to land the pickerel that tugged
at the other end Of il. but I hauled him up
through the hole after awhile. and he came
UP fierce as an alligator. and SO big he
actually scared me. | didn't stop 10 size
him up, though, but chucked him OF the
ice and scooted for the second hole.
Il had a longer fight at that hole 70 land
my fish than | had at the first one, but he
wasn't an inch bigger than the other pick
eral. so far as ] could see, in my haste to get
TO the blind tip-up and save that pickerel
too. | had a harder fight yet at tina hole
than at either OF the others. and by the
time i had landed the pickerel and thrown
him on the ice, / had to stop and gasp for
breath, for there wasn't any breath left
in me. .
Il hadn't gasped a great deal Of wind
into me. though, before IL was all knocked
out of me again, for as j looked back at
the other two holes in thei ice where | had
left two slamming big pickerel Topping.
not having even waited To take the hooks
out Of their mouths, not a pickerel was
to bs seen. Both tip-ups were down.
though. A ...r,,.s, ..;a
/, IL them pickerel hahn gone n Topped
back into the pond again through them
holes!'
but the tip-ups showed That they were
on the lines yet, aud | got there at a 2O2
clip. | yanked the first pickerel out again,
dropped him on the ice, tore TO tother
hole, yanked the pickerel out OF that one,
and was Just STOPPING down TO take hlfn on
the hook when | glanced at the third hole.
.Sayl ! most fell dead. There wasn't
any pickerel at the third hole. But the tip
VI had its butt end in the air.
81 didn't wait. / hurried TO the third
hole. yanked the pickerel out again
and reached down 20 unlock him and chuck
him back so far that he couldn't flop in the
pond again, when | saw something queer.
glanced al the other two holes, No pick
erel there. | didn't expect there would be.
THE hooks of all three of those tip-ups
of mine were in the Jaw OF that one big
pickerel. He had come along with his
Observation-Disclosures appetite,
- "a -.0 ahlD thu hat
ON the first tip-up, hooked himself. sailed
right on and tool in the second tip-up bait
hooked himself, and then plunged ahead
and gobbled the bait on the third one, and
! had been yanking him out and in and IN
and out O. them three holes like a game o
see-saw, thinking | was landing thr ee
pickerel.'
The tintinnabulator rang up a sale with a
fhump that woke Terry, the S~cotch-lrish
terrier. Badly, the landlord, walked the
floor awhile and then sat down In the big
armchair.
1.-THE biggest pickerel that ever got fast
on TO a tip-up Of mine weighed nine pounds
and three-quarters," said he, shying ms
cigar u at the dog.
Sid you land him?" asked Farmer
Leonard.
the landlord. but | lost him
Farmer Leonard acted as II he was going
TO ask some kind Of question, but Badly
waved him down and said:
Yankee Pond, up in sullivan county,
used to have the reputation OF harboring
the biggest and savagest pickerel anybody
ever heard Of. | don't know whether
il has got over II or not, but that was tho
reputation Yankee Pond had when | lived
I'm Sullivan county, some years ago
Folks never seemed to care to tish much
in Yankee Pond until the ice was good
and thick on II, and I've heard 'em up there
saw that oven then they have seen pickerel
plaring up at 'em through the ice, and
irving TO knock a hole through II 30 they
could spring out and snatch EN-.
well, any how. | was fishing one day
through the ice on Yankee Pond, when
one u NV tip-ups. a good ways from where
was standing. Went down with a rattle
and n hum. The hole was only a rod or
so from the shore. ,
Il started on a run 20 vsnk the pickerel
out, but before | got anywhere near "
out Of the brush ON the shore trotted a
snorting hig bear. and made straight Tor
that tip-up l didn't 60 much nearer,
and the bear hauled up that line with me
pickcrci AT the end " II "a proper "a could
have done II mySelf.
And what a whoppcr that pickerei was
And sassy He pitched into that bear
the minute hc got HIS eyes on hum. and ,,
WASH till the pear had given him a couple
q swat that would have tumbled an on
that the pickerel give NJ.