THE PIKE. 65 



and, in all probability, anv other bait in the catalogue would have 

 done just as well. The best bait must surely be that which will 

 most universally attract the fish under all circumstances. That 

 bait, we apprehend and we think most old trollers will agree with 

 us is a fresh, dark-backed, red-filmed roach, with bright shining 

 sides. Taking all waters and weathers and moods of the pike into 

 consideration, this bait cannot be beaten- and the angler who 

 sticks to it will, in the long run, outdo all his more fanciful com- 

 petitors. To say that a pike will run eagerly at frogs, &c., is 

 nothing. We know a troller once took several fish with the fresh 

 red gills, which, for lack of bait, he had cut out of one previously 

 caught ; but who would pretend to argue that these are therefore 

 a good general bait ? A large pike was once dragged out of a 

 river in an^ eastern county, by putting a snap hook very neatly on 

 the back of a sparrow, and letting the bird flap upon the top of the 

 water. Where is the angler who would deduce from this solitary 

 incident that a sparrow is the best bait for a large fish ? A friend 

 of ours has more than once had good sport with a fresh herring for 

 his bait ; but we never heard him contend that it was the best bait 

 in the world. 



The fact is, when the pike are very hungry, they will run at 

 almost anything; but a good roach will often tempt them when 

 they are not hungry, and seem disposed to run at nothing. Tins 

 is the true test ; and, in our humble opinion, the roach will bear it 

 better than any other kind of bait which has ever been recom- 

 mended. 



Some trollers take live roach with them in a fish-kettle, this is 

 not necessary. Put a fine fresh caught roach, into clean, sweet 

 bran with care, and by the time you arrive at the water side, they 

 will be firm and stiff. Do not wash them before you bait, because 

 you are very likely to nib off some scales in the process. As soon 

 as the hook is thrown into the water, off goes the bran, and the 

 fish sparkles and glitters with his skin unblemished. 



Another way of catching pike is with the snap. The spring snap 

 is sold at all the tackle-shops, and, as it is easily adjusted to 

 any part of the bait by means of the smaller hook, it is a very 

 good weapon for the purpose. There is also a double-hooked 

 snap sometimes used, for managing which directions are given in 

 some fishing books ; but it seems at best but a roundabout trou- 

 blesome process, scarcely worth comprehending or adopting. We 

 have in our possession a singularly formidable sort of hook, or 

 rather bundle of hooks, used, and we believe invented, by a game- 

 keeper of Lord Yarborough's. It consists of two strong treble- 

 hooks, one double hook, and a single one, laving in succession 

 along a very strong gimp trace, with a good swivel in the middle 

 * of it. One of the barbs in the first treble hook is thrust upwards 

 from under the mouth through the head of the bait, the second 

 treble hook crosses over the shoulders, and has one of its barbs 

 bushed under the back fin ; the f&uble hook is run in near the tail, 



