They fish around the 'slack-water,'
catching the last of the ebb and the first of the flow, and hence
drift but little either way. To a casual observer they appear as if
anchored and asleep. But they wake up when they have a 'strike,' which
may be every day, or not once a week. The fishermen keep their eye on
the line of buoys, and when two or more of them are hauled under, he
knows his game has run foul of the net, and he hastens to the point.
The sturgeon is a pig, without the pig's obstinacy. He spends much of
the time rooting and feeding in the mud at the bottom, and encounters
the net, coarse and strong, when he goes abroad. He strikes, and is
presently hopelessly entangled, when he comes to the top and is pulled
into the boat, like a great sleepy sucker. For so dull and lubbery
a fish, the sturgeon is capable of some very lively antics; as, for
instance, his habit of leaping full length into the air and coming
down with a great splash. He has thus been known to leap unwittingly
into a passing boat, to his own great surprise, and to the alarm and
consternation of the inmates.
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