GREAT PIKE AND LIVE BAIT 



for the fact that the minnow soon doubles down on 

 the hook-shank and whirls like a spoon when drawn 

 through the water instead of traveling naturally. 

 There is just one way of attaching a minnow or frog 

 to a single hook, and that is through the head; but as 

 all members of the pike family are in the habit of 

 striking from the rear (unlike bass), unless they reach 

 far enough over the bait to be impaled upon the hook, 

 the bait is severed and the fish escapes. Every great 

 pike fisherman knows the vexation of short-striking. 

 It is an easy matter to use two hooks, either a gang 

 built especially for the work or a second hook attached 

 by its ring to the first. More than once I have made 

 a "great-pike gang," wiring the body of the minnow 

 or frog to the shank of the second hook, to the conquer- 

 ing of "lazy" great pike. 



Every rodster is acquainted with the casting spoon 

 to which an auxiliary hook is attached, and every 

 caster of live bait for great pike should be. (We will 

 not enter into a discussion regarding the ethics of the 

 matter here, why it is "unsportsmanlike" to use a 

 spoon in combination with a live bait.) When live 

 bait has ceased to be alive, or when using preserved 

 bait, the spoon is a great aid, as it serves to attract 

 the fish's attention to the morsel of food and perhaps 

 serves to make it appear in a lifelike manner. I know 

 from many an experience that it is a fish-taker. Such 

 a spoon (the blade should not be large like those 

 usually found upon trolls) will not interfere with cast- 

 ing to any great extent, as it does not offer much re- 

 sistence to the atmosphere and is little affected by 

 the wind. 



All that was said in the previous chapter concerning 

 6 8i 



