Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Voices from the Past: A Novel Pike Bait (1887)



The following blurb comes from the 1887 American Angler, and details a novel kind of pike bait. Note that at the time pike were referred to pickerel. The author was an anonymous "E.S."

A NOVEL LURE FOR PICKEREL

Talking of pickerel (Esox), how much they will eat, and what they will eat, reminds me—

I was duck shooting one day. After eating my lunch, I scrunched its covering (a sheet of greasy foolscap) into a base ball resemblance and gave it a toss into the water. It had no sooner struck than it disappeared in the maw of a huge pickerel. Soon there was a flouncing on the surface and a darting to and fro, now a dive under and then a skittering between wind and water, but no go—that chunk of paper remained. The reptilian teeth, for once in the economy of old esox, served a bad purpose—gagged and disgusted, the fish made a rush shoreward, got tangled in the sweet-flag grass, when we pulled out ten pounds of pickerel, foolscap bait and all. Hope no one will ;et a patent on that hook and bait.


-- Dr. Todd

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