ANGLING FOR PIKE. 119 



To bait a gorge hook, take a baiting needle, and 

 hook the curved end to the top of the gimp, to which 

 the hook is tied ; then introduce the point of the needle 

 into a dead-bait's mouth, and bring it out at the middle 

 of the fork of the tail, by which means the piece of 

 lead which covers the shank of the hook, and part of the 

 connecting wire, will lay concealed in the interior of the 

 bait : the shank will be in the middle of its mouth, and 

 the barbs on the outside turning upwards. To keep the 

 bait steady on the hook, fasten the tail part just above 

 the fork to the gimp, with a silk or cotton thread ; or 

 a neater method is, to pass the needle and thread 

 through the side of the bait, about half an inch above 

 the tail, so as to encircle the gimp in the interior. The 

 baits used vary in weight from one to four ounces, and 

 the hooks must be proportioned to the size of fish with 

 which they are to be baited. The barbs of the hook 

 ought not to project much beyond the sides of the 

 mouth, because, as the pike generally seizes his prey 

 sidewise, and turns it before it is pouched or swallowed, 

 if he feels the points of the hooks, he may cast it out 

 entirely. 



The bait, thus fastened, is to be kept in constant 

 motion in the water, sometimes suffered to sink, then 

 gradually raised ; now drawn with the stream and now 

 against it, the better to counterfeit life. " After trying 

 closely," says Salter, " make your next throw further in 

 the water, and draw and sink the baited hook, drawing 

 it straight upwards near to the surface of the water, and 

 also to right and left, searching carefully every foot of 

 water, and draw your bait with the stream, because you 



