204. MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 
downwards towards you—and for a very simple reason : 
namely, that the slope of the weeds with the current makes 
it impossible to work it properly in any other way. 
This plan has also the merit of bringing the bait into 
contact first with the Pike’s jaws instead of his tail. 
The bait should be kept as much as possible in the runs 
and gullies between weed-clumps, or at the margin of 
weed-beds in pools, and being brought well home to 
the boat or to the troller’s feet before being lifted out 
‘of water for a fresh throw. Each time that the bait is 
left to sink after a “lift,” a proportionate quantity of 
the line should be pulled in with the left hand and 
allowed to coil on the ground ; the action being slower 
than, but of the same nature as, that required in 
Spinning. 
How to distinguish a “run.” 
Upon a fish seizing the bait, the first notice which the 
Troller receives of the fact is the stoppage or check of 
the line, very often hardly to be distinguished from that 
occasioned by a weed, and followed generally by a few 
savage little tugs or wrenches which are produced by the 
jaws of the Pike in his efforts to kill his supposed victim. 
Sometimes, however, the bait is taken by a heavy fish 
with a rush and jerk that well-nigh twists the rod out of 
the Troller’s hand. 
Management of Pike whilst Gorging. 
The first step to be taken on perceiving a fish, or a 
