Fishing For Dummies. Greg Schwipps

Fishing For Dummies - Greg Schwipps


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rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_8d484582-70d7-501f-a896-e2afc6436a8d.png" alt="Warning"/> When landing a pike, be extremely careful of its sharp teeth. They are about the nastiest thing in freshwater fishing. (This advice goes for the pike’s cousins, the muskie and pickerel.) As shown in Figure 4-7, the safest way to land a pike is with a landing net, and then grab the fish gently but firmly behind the gills.

Picture depicting the safest way to land a pike which is with a landing net, and then grabbing the fish gently but firmly behind the gills.

      © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

      FIGURE 4-7: The finger-preserving way to land a pike, muskie, or pickerel.

      Northern pike: Water wolf

      The most popular member of the pike family is usually known simply as the pike, but it’s really a northern pike, and it’s a native of the Great Lakes and its cooler tributaries. It prefers cooler water and can be found in any habitat that provides a steady source of it.

      Pike are clearly designed to attack and devour (see the color section). All forms of baitfish and gamefish, birds, muskrats, frogs, snakes, snails, leeches, and anything else it finds within striking distance can find its way into a northern pike’s belly.

      You are liable to find pike in weedy shallows (especially if the water’s cool) where they wait to ambush their prey. As stealthy as a lion in wait, or as swift as a springing panther, pike stalk and pursue their prey. For this reason, anglers pursue pike by using livebait (usually a good-sized sucker) or by casting a variety of lures designed to entice an angry strike. They’ll also take flies and popping bugs. Anglers desire pike more for sport than for food — they are too bony for many cooks to mess with. Northern pike reach weights into the lower 40-pound range, but anything larger than 20 pounds is an ornery trophy.

      Chain pickerel: Pike junior

Picture depicting a chain pickerel, whose dark side markings appear to line up like the links in a chain.

      © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

      FIGURE 4-8: The chain pickerel, shown here, looks similar to a miniature pike.

      Members of this family of fish, including striped bass, white bass, and their cross, the wiper, or hybrid striped bass, are taking the country by storm. Extremely popular with anglers wherever they are found, these bass strike hard, fight well, and taste great.

      

Things get a bit confusing here. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are in the sunfish family, not the bass family. And one member of the temperate bass family — the striped bass — exists in both salt- and freshwater (meaning it’s anadromous). And two members of the bass family — the striped bass and the white bass — can be crossed to form a hybrid called a hybrid striped bass or wiper. What anglers really need to know is that all the species in this family make wonderful sportfish.

      Striped bass: Strong enough for saltwater, happy in freshwater

      White bass: Little fighters

Picture of a white bass that resembles miniature stripers, small but ferocious, especially when pursuing a school of baitfish.

      © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

      FIGURE 4-9: Not as big as striped bass, white bass are still great sport.

      Wipers: A bit of both

Picture of a hybrid or wiper bass, a cross between a white bass and a striped bass, that are often stocked in reservoirs.

      © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Picture of a common carp that is a big, deep-bodied fish, capable of testing even stout gear.
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