HUXING PIKE. 125 



and betray the run by the altered colour. This is said 

 to be occasionally amusing : for our own part, we consider 

 it a very contemptible affair altogether. 



The pike is angled for with a large float and a live bait, 

 the hook being thrust under the back fin, or through the 

 nose, of a strong gudgeon or roach. A strong gimp hook 

 must be used ; a small bullet to keep the bait down ; a 

 stiff rod, and a pretty strong line. The bait should 

 swim, about mid- water if shallow, and not more than 

 three or four feet under any circumstances. In weedy 

 waters this mode of fishing is worse than useless. The 

 float will not allow the line to run freely through the 

 weeds when the fish bolts off to gorge, and the chances 

 are, that, in nine cases out of ten, you will not only lose 

 your fish, but injure him also, and damage your tackle as 

 well. Even at the best, and under the most favourable 

 circumstances, it is but a bungling piece of business, fit 

 only for schoolboys and cockneys. 



HuxiNG is done by fastening a live bait to a large dis- 

 tended ox-bladder, and throwing them into the water as 

 a sort of floating trimmer. When the pike has swallowed 

 the bait, it is capital fun for a schoolboy to watch the 

 bladder bobbing up in spite of the exertions of the very 

 largest fish to k<jep it down; but there ends the sport, 

 such as it is. Connoisseurs in huxing substitute a live 

 duck for the ox-bladder, and infinitely prefer the splash- 

 ings and quackings of the one, to the silent bobbings of 

 the other. In the Shannon they use geese for this pur- 

 pose, which are said to kill very large fish. 



TROLLING is the only mode of pike-fishing which is 

 worthy of a sportsman, or which a genuine angler will 



