The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-04-10
JUST ORDINARY OIL PlcKEREL

My Dear Buck:
II there is one of the fish family .
that We remember from the knee /
pants and bent-pin stage of the fishing I
game. it sure must be OF Judge Pick |
erel and the young picks" 1t GER
tainly made your heart 90 double /
quick and started the cold creeps up
your spine, the first time you hooked !
a pickerel, after kindergarten course
on clubs and sunnies. You probably
had a long cane pole or young sap
ling cut from the nearby wooded shore
anyway, from that time on you real.
lied that there was some sport" to
the game. Since then, of course, the
OF pickerel has been sorta dropped
into the discard, and it takes trout,
bass or muskie, perhaps, to start the
JOY trips up along your vertcbrae. But
let me tip You off straight, Buck,
there's many a good fighter left in the
pickerel outfit, regardless of the many
slurs cast upon his fighting qualities
| by some of the ultraexclusive high
brows in the angling derby.
Find Pickerel Most Anywhere.
! The pickerel is one of the fish that
| YOU can fish for nearly anywhere, and
| you don't have to make a five hundred
| TO one thousand mile trip to his home
! grounds" He is a common, ordinary
Cuss that can pick up a living on next
| TO nothing, and at the same time raise
mighty big family. In nearby civil
! lized" waters he will even make a
sure-enough professional fisherman sit
| up and take notice at his ability to
evade the bait and make said fisher
man use all his skill and wits to in
duce him TO take the lure The more
he is shed for the wiser he gets, and
to land few fair-sized pickerel in
much-fished waters takes keen work.
more so than for the gamer fish in the
usual FISH haunts of the North woods.
As rule the pickerel found in local
waters does not grow to excess size
say an average of two or three pounds
Some are larger, Of course, but not the
general run.
Where the Pickerel Hangs Out.
The pickerel from the running
streams, like all other fish, puts VI
the best fight. while those from the
warmer waters of the lakes and slug
giah streams are dull and slow fight
ers. The pickerel is found in nearly
ali rivers and lakes or ponds, his pref
orence being for shallow, grassy lakes
His main hunting grounds are alonl
: the edge Of lily and weed beds and OF
/ the outskirts OF the grassy growth
/ that is often called ''pickerel grass.
II Here he turks, waiting for the smalle
II fish to swim past, often striking hi
II prey with a snap of the jaws that cut
II the victim in twain. He is a sure
II enough barbarian, and is a destroye
II OF the weaker fishes, all of whicI
H points to the fact that he will be wit
II us for many day. He is vicious t
II the core, and at times will strike
II trolling spoon with force enough t
II bend it double. In Springfield lakes h
H IS often found around the spring hole!
II and deep fishing here will bring hiI
U out. You can feel reasonably sure {
landing him any time from the frs
/ VI NAAC oCetSOl " lAC NtIlOupB anu lAC
take a rap at him through the ice
. winter.
Needs Dentist in August.
August is about the poorest mont
for pickerel fishing, caused, no doub
by the soreness Of the gums, {
claimed by many of the old.timer
The "muskie," a cousin of the pic
erel, loses his teeth in August, viii
the pickerel itself has swelling
the gums during dogdays that do
not put him in a humor TO bite on an
tn thing. Late September and early o
tober is about the best all-round pic
erel season, at which time he is four
:" in the shadows, at the mouth of oil
lets or inlets, where the feed is goo
zoe Troll and Cast for Him.
Although trolling is the surest met
cd of landing the pickerel, mu
nc, sport can be had by casting for hi
rk using light bass tackle. A weedle
M hook with a small frog, sinner or nj
now for bait, and a single spinner
,or all you need. Row along the wee
beds, about seventy-five feet out a
. cast III toward the euSe, IanulHS yO
bait about five feet from the ed
Give the pickerel a little time befC
striking as he grabs the live bait a
darts back to his lair, there to tn
it around in his mouth and swallow
head first. Strike sharply and II
away from the weeds. Bear this
mind: he may come up to the bC
with ease. but he makes his
est effort for liberty after you bring
at up to the boat.
ely The usual way to get him is
eu' trolling with spoon or spinner. Tia
80 No. Az tandem spinner with
M treble hook bucktai!ed or feathered,
erv q No. spoon and you have an
lly, cellent trolling rig. A chunk of pc
rind adds to the attractiyeness of
lure.
DIXIE
- Step on the grin-aecelerator,