The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1903-10-23
SKITTERING FOR PICKEREL.
C&ic Angler Must Be SkilIful in Stalk.
ing as Well as in Handling
the Rod

ing as w eli as In HAmGl1nS
the Rod.
The lazy, but combative, pickerel il
q great fellow to lie in the shadows these
warm days, generally parallel with the
bank. The back fin sticks out of the
water, and the hot sun warns the scaled
sides.
So placed, the pickerel will lie some.
times from ten o'clock in the morning
until the sun is low. 1t does no feedins
at all, and is not watching for prey. II
it were it would have its nose pointed
thing seizable and eatable that might
pass.
When the pickerel is lying so, is the
time when the skitter gets in his work
says the New York Sun. There are mer
who, having learned to skitter for pick
erel, refuse all other forms of angling
as unworthy. They Join the skill OF
their sport to their skill as stalkers, and
they get a great deal Of excitement oui
of the combination.
The skittcrer gets into a small, tight
boat, with q man in the stern to pad
die him, and takes his position in the
bow. He has a stout cane Is feet long,
and ties to its end some ten feet OF
strong silk line.
His lure is either a small spoon with
a minnow or freq attached, or else just
frog or ninnow on plain hook, with
out lead. Some anglers in skitterinG
use short casting rod, and cast their
bait into the bank, bringing it out rap
idly, so as to keep it upon the surface,
but this is not true skittcring.
The boat Of the skitterer pokes along
is feet from the bank. with scarcely a
ripple at the prov. and certainly no
sound from the gentle paddle. 1t is a
requisite OF the pickcrel boatman that
he must be able to send his craft through
the water noiselessly.
The skitterer in the bow keeps sharp
lookout, and when he sees broad fin
projecting from the water, lying just out
side of a fringe OF weeds, every muscle
in him stiffens like the muscles OF a
pointer dog hard down on birds, and he
waves his hand behind him as signal
to the boatman.
The boat floats. rather than moves, di-
rectly toward the picllcrel, and when the
proper distance is reached the spoon or
frog is flicked lightly into the water a
yard in front OF the pickerel, and is
then skittered along the surface.
1t goes away from the picllerel slowly,
but surely, and looks to the pickerel to
be a foolhardy minnow or frog that is
toying with him. The bait is skittered
along for couple of yards, and if the
move to cause the pickerel to show life
has been unsuccessful, another cast is
made.
The pickercl. when summing himself is
one of the most indolent of fishes. 1t
has had its breakfast. and calculated that
that meal would suffice until late in the
afternoon. Certainly il dislikes to stir
The object Of the skittercr is to per-
suade the pickcrel that 1t has chance
at something casy-a foolish frog which
does not know enough to stay on land,
or a minnow which is so busily playing
slowly along that it has no thought of
danger. II the piclIcrel is too enam-
ored Of rest to pay attention. there is
nothing to do save TO bring the bait
and scare it into deep water. going on to
hunt another one, but often it will de-
eide to dash yard or two forward, and
pick mp chance tidbit, and then the
trouble begins.
The skittercr has no reel on his rod,
so he may not play the pickerel scien-
tifically. All he can do Is TO hang on
and wave the pole back aud forth as the
fish darts to right or left and trust to
the hooks holding long enough to tire
the pickercl out.
If the fish is small one, it may be
yanked into tho air and then into the
boat without trouble. but nobody can
yank a pickercl weighing from Is to
20 pounds. 1t must be tired out before
it is grabbed by the eyes and hauled in.
Often when this happens the skitterer is
just as tired as the skitteree. and just as
willing to quit.
The chief fun Of this game and its
chief skill is in the hunting The two in
the boat must be silent as death, they
must keep the proper distance from the
bank or shallow bars. and the man in
the bow must have sharp eyes.
Then. too. he must know where to look.
There are many shadows clear of veg
citation where no pickercl would think
of idling. The fish select weed beds, or
the edges OF weeds. which grow along
banks. generally at the back of little
bays as far as possible from the open lake
where boats would be apt to pass.
The fun, too, is worth The trouble when
a skitter is successful. for good pick
erel caught on so short line and
long, Timber pole will cut mp enough d.
does in ten minutes to last an angler for
a week
A Puzzle Fable.