1 76 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 below 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 



