This section is from the book "Camping And Woodcraft", by Horace Kephart. Also available from Amazon: Camping and Woodcraft.
Trout, perch, pickerel, and various other fishes, may be taken with hook and line any month in the year—when they are in the humor. In cold weather, fish the deep still water, through holes in the ice, if there are any.
Where suckers lie motionless, in plain view, they can be snared with a wire noose by dropping it gently in front and under one of them, and giving a jerk. Other fish sometimes may be taken in the same way. In hot weather, if you have no tackle at all, seek a small spring-hole, close its outlet with sticks and brush, build an artificial outlet, with rocks, etc., leading to a flat; then get into the spring-hole, thrash around with a stick, poke under the ledges, and scare the fish out to where they will be stranded, so you may catch them with your naked hands. Some spring-holes can be made into traps themselves by digging a deeper outlet and running the water off.
 
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