224 THE troller's guide. 



you may be assured the Fish are more on the play 

 than on the feed. This being the case, convert your 

 gorge to a snap, in the manner directed in Chap. IV. 

 the dead snap with four hooks, and you will generally 

 succeed in taking or killing the tantalizer. 



Note. Among my trolling- tackle, I always carry 

 with me two or three pieces of stick, from two to three 

 inches long, to use as a gag when I have hooked either 

 Jack or Pike in the throat ; I can then easily get my 

 hook away without cutting or disfiguring the Jack or 

 Pike, (supposing the hook to be a favourite one, and I 

 prefer using it to any other,) by gagging or keeping 

 his mouth open, with a piece of stick. I can then, 

 with a disgorger about nine or ten inches long, (which 

 you may have made either of ivory, brass, or iron, for 

 the common bone-disgorgers are not long enough for 

 the Troller's purpose,) get away the hook, and save 

 my fingers from the Fish's teeth ; but if the Jack or 

 Pike has pouched, the better way then to unhook him^ 

 is to make an opening in his belly, near the throat, 

 and carefully cut away the parts to which the hooks 

 hang, and draw the hooks and gimp out of the open- 

 ing. If this operation is done neatly, and it is very 

 easy so to do with a sharp-pointed knife, the Jack or 

 Pike will be very little disfigured. 



In landing heavy Jack or Pike, it is best to use a 

 landing hook, or to grasp them firmly with both hands 

 just below the gills 3 for, though it is generally recom- 

 mended to press your thumb and finger in their eyes, 

 and so lift them, yet I have known many instances of 



