mascalonge and pickerel,
if I must err, let it be on the side of large hooks and strong lines.

It is idle to talk of playing the fish in water where the giving of a
few yards insures a hopeless tangle among roots, tree-tops, etc. I was
once fishing in Western waters where the pickerel ran very large, and I
used a pair of the largest salmon hooks with tackle strong enough to
hold a fish of fifteen pounds, without any playing; notwithstanding
which, I had five trains of three hooks each taken off in as many
days by monster pickerel. An expert mascalonge fisherman--Davis by
name--happened to take board at the farm house where I was staying, and
he had a notion that he could "beat some of them big fellows;" and he
did it; with three large cod hooks, a bit of fine, strong chain, twelve
yards of cod-line, an eighteen-foot tamarack pole and a twelve inch
sucker for bait. I thought it the most outlandish rig I had ever seen,
but went with him in the early gray of the morning to see it tried,
just where I had lost my hooks and fish.

Raising the heavy bait in the air, he would give it a whirl to gather
headway and launch it forty feet away with a splash that might have
been heard thirty rods. It looked more likely to scare than catch, but
was a success. At the third or fourth cast we plainly saw a huge
pickerel rise, shut his immense mouth over bait, hooks and a few inches
of chain, turn lazily and head for the bottom, where Mr. D. let him
rest a minute, and then struck steadily but strongly. The subsequent
struggle depended largely on main strength, though there was a good
deal of skill and cool judgment shown in the handling and landing of
the fish. A pickerel of forty pounds or more is not to be snatched out
of the water on his first mad rush: something must be yielded--and with
no reel there is little chance of giving line. It struck me my friend
managed his fish remarkably well, towing him back and forth with a
strong pull, never giving him a rest and finally sliding him out on a
low muddy bank, as though he were a smooth log. We took him up to the
house and tested the size of his mouth by putting a quart cup in it,
which went in easily. Then we weighed him and he turned the scales at
forty-four pounds. It was some consolation to find three of my hooks
sticking in his mouth. Lastly, we had a large section of him stuffed
and baked. It was good; but a ten-pound fish would have been better,
The moral of all this--if it has a