Chapter VIII 



Trolling for Great Pike 



"Burnished with blue and bright as damask steel, 

 Behold the Belone of pointed bill ; 

 All fringed with teeth, no greedier fish than they 

 E'er broke in serried lines our foaming bay. 

 Soon as the practiced crew this frolic throng 

 Behold advancing rapidly along, 

 Adjusting swift a tendon to the line, 

 They throw, then drag it glistening through the brine." 

 —-Giannetazzio, Sixteenth Century. 



PERHAPS it is true, as sometimes asserted, that 

 trolling has fallen into disuse these latter days, 

 since the advent of the short rod and multiply- 

 ing reel, which, if so, only proves that anglers some- 

 times forego a great pleasure in order to secure a greater. 

 I hold that trolling for great pike is a true and legiti- 

 mate sport, and to be fully enjoyed should be practiced 

 with short rod and multiplying reel. I have used the 

 hand-line, whirling the heavily weighted spoon about 

 my head, so casting far from the boat and retrieving 

 hand-over-hand. I have used the long ' 'cane pole, ' ' with 

 line of equal length, without a reel, so capturing many 

 a lusty great pike. I am not crying down those meth- 

 ods, believing that a sportsman could use them and 

 remain a sportsman, were he the right sort of a man ; 

 but long experience has taught me that there is more 

 real enjoyment in playing a fish from the reel, using 

 the regular heavy casting outfit. Furthermore, I 

 honestly believe that so accoutered I can capture two 



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