176 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
High-class pike-anglers regard the old-fashioned style of 
gorge-fishing, with live or dead bait, as unsportsmanlike, and 
rightly so, for it is an unlovely proceeding. In this method, 
if a dead bait be used, it is trolled in likely places ; and, as 
soon as a pike strikes it, he is allowed eight or ten minutes to 
swallow it. If the bait is presented alive, a float is necessary, 
but the process of fixing the bait to the hooks is so barbarous 
that I cannot bring myself to describe it here. In either case, 
the pike, having gorged the bait, is hooked in the stomach or 
far down the throat, and cannot make a fair fight. His only 
chance of escape is that the tackle should break, when the fish 
gets off only to die in a manner which it is sickening to think 
about. Even if the object be to destroy pike as vermin, it 
is far more humane, as well as more effective, to do so by 
trammel or draught nets. In clear trout-streams, also, pike 
may be snared by a noose of fine wire fixed at the end of a 
long, light bamboo, It is easy to detect the fish, lying 
motionless near the surface, and it is truly remarkable what 
skill is attained by adepts in noosing out jack even of very 
diminutive dimensions. Another amusing and artistic manner 
of disposing of pike in waters where it is desired to kill them 
down is with a rook rifle or air gun. In this art the aim must 
be directed seven or eight inches de/ow the apparent position of 
the fish in the water, in order to allow for refraction ; and, 
whereas the pike is generally no more than stunned by the 
passage of the bullet, it is expedient to ladle him out with a 
landing-net as he floats belly upwards upon the surface. 
Paternostering for pike is one of the most deadly means 
of taking large fish. The plan is similar to that employed 
for perch (see page 65), save that only one bait is used, and 
that must be a live dace, roach, or gudgeon. 
The most lively and merciful method of angling for 
pike, as well as the most artistic, is certainly with the 
spinning bait, and few sportsmen would care to adopt any 
other, were it not for the undoubted fact that large pike 
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