The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-05

August - Along the Trout Streams.
There are times in July when the steady
backward bend and forward jerk of
casting are too much for the angler,
On such day the man who is out for
good time and wants to catch all sorts
Of fish in all sorts of ways will try for
pickerel. For the pickerel is a fish that
Ia the full summer glare lends itself to the
pleasure to the lazy man.
In early spring the pickerel freQuents
the shadows both to spawn and to lie luXu-
riously in the sun. As the days get longer
and thu heat increases it seeks deerer
waters, hunting for coolnesS. When july
Is fairly on and the top water of the lake
has been warmed TO a depth of six feet
the pickerel goes to the bottom and stay
there mostly,
What the pickerel eats in the depths no
man knows. but probably even SO far
down there are still minnows and small
fishes upon which it preys
The bait of bats for pickerel is a club
nix inches long and fat.
The club IL cross between mnnow
and a sucker with a bent-over. small
thing else il is supposed that nature in
tended it as lure for other fishes.
Though there is plenty of it, it is useless
on the table
Thoreau, who experimental with many
things. including grasshoppers fried and
roast woodchucks says that "the club is
soft fish and tastes like brown paper
boiled; and that expresses it exactly.
Alive and full of strength, however, it is a
vast temptation to the piclserel
A man does not need many chubs for the
day. A half dozen will be enough, for the
club lives long in water of any depth or
temperature even when a hook is stuck
through it.
There is considerable science in hooking
the pickerel in midsummer fishing. and
much the larger part consists in patience.
This fish has mouth disproportionata to
its size. The mouth is cut clear across
and opens widely. 1t looks big enough
to take in a pig and when the Jaws are
distended, showing the many rows Of
pointed backward bent teeth, has a for
midable appearance.
Yet never u young lady at dinner APP
preached her food more mincingly than
July pickerel, however hungry il may
be- In the spring shadows it will hit at a
halt as avidly and savagely az any muskal-
longe that ever rushed twenty feet out
from its wild rice covert, and then the
barb may be- sunk in deeply and instantly;
but in the heats it goes about its fe eding
in a gingerly manner.
First it seizes the club by the tail and
makes a little run of three feet or so, put
ting so little pressure on the line that it is
scarcely felt Then it moves its teeth up
half an inch on its victims body and makes
another run of equal distance.
Then it stops and apparently cogitates
for full minute. Then il makes a run of
a couple Of yards and stops again. Finally
It makes up it's mind to gorge the club.
switches it about in the water and takes
IL head on with a rush
Even in this rush it must be permitted
to travel ten feet before the hook is sunk
home. In that last ten feet it will have
taken the bait well down past the hard lin
ing Of the outer part of the mouth, and the
hook should he fastened in the tough skin
and muscles which precede the throat.
The man s from fifty to hundred feet
above and cannot. of course, see the pick
erel. He can Judge Of the progress of the
deception only by the behavior of the line.
Old pickerel fishermen have "A maxim that
the Jerk must not be made until the fis
has run three times That is good, but I
is better to wait until the fourth run is
made. The catch is all the surcr
OF course, the angler runs the chance
that the pickerel will accidentally find the
point OF the hook, get scratched and let
IL L,,tt this SpllpD1 bgUF,ara for
the reason that most of the time the big
feeder has the club by the tail or about
the centre of the body and is in no danger
from the hook The man who waits long
cat ND to a certain limit will fasten the
most fish.
The pickerel is an immensely strong fish
for it's weight and sometimes attains to a
great size II seldom leaves the water
When struggling with the hook, as th" bass
and muskallonge will do repeatedly. It
depends for safety upon opposing all of
weight 10 the line and making a surg
ing boring fight of 1t from start to finish.
twenty-pound pickerel from forty to
fftv feet down will weigh apparently
twice as much AZ n twenty-pound muskaI-
longe making its battle on or near to TN"
surface 1t is by so much harder to hold and
the struggle OF the angler to, get in line
and bring the fish near enough for killing
Ia by.so much increased.
In july and August the pickcrel starts
the war with the advantage OF great depth
on it's side and it must he fought to the
surface foot by foot, often gaining. often
losing, and full of fight 10 the time when il
can fight no more. Because of its strong
drag and surge, unless the bait be well
porged when the hook is struck in, the fish
il apt to get away, tearing the barb from
the tenderer hold near the opening of it's
mouth and escaping by sheer strength
and awkwardness.
The man in the boat has no way Of iudg
ing whether the fish has gorR'd. ey-
cept by the length Of time he has per-
mftted II to run with the club, and, being
doubtful he il apt TO be little tender Of
the rod, RETAINING from giving the butt
and applying the full power Of the reel
crank. Now, unless the pickercI be fought
yiciously from the start, irrespective Of
any hold the hook may have, it will be TO
much harder TO land, for II finds weak
strain opposed 10 it and does MS it pIcaseE
for Ave minutes, staying down in the hole
When five minutes have passed, if II has
not succeeded in wrapping the line about
stump or branch or rock and so snap
ping itself free. it will sink TO the very
bottom and lie at full length, inert and i'm
movable. The quadruple- multiplying reel
slender silk line and elastic rod are made
quate to stir H.
Fishermen call this "sulling" and say
that the pickerel has "sulled." 1t is u
frarraDt trinL Of No ritn nSpario ly IN