THE PIKE. 373 



my forefinger into the fish's gills and hauled him on the raft. 

 Then jumping for my pushing-pole I gave him a crack over 

 his big eyes that paralyzed him. Lifting the pole to give him 

 number two, the weapon hung fire. My line had, in some 

 way, coiled around the pole, and instead of the blow coming 

 on the head of the Pike, it came across my bare toes! In a 

 flash I was bottom-side-up under the water, fussing and 

 spluttering as a boy always does when anything hurts him. 

 I fairly howled with pain, until I saw that the squirming 

 Pike was getting too near the edge of my raft, when, towing 

 it to the bank, I transferred my rod, line and fish, to dry 

 ground, and then "whoop-e-e-d" over my first big Pike! 

 It was only about thirty inches long, but it was the fish that 

 had taken such a fancy to our downy ducks; and my victory 

 over him, won, as it was, at the expense of a wound and an 

 involuntary bath, was a most glorious achievement. 



The hiding-place of the Pike is under a channel bank 

 where rushes grow to the edge of the channel; or, in the 

 vicinity of tree-stumps and submerged logs, especially if the 

 old roots project out into the running streams, he can often 

 be found in the deep water, a little above the mouth of a 

 channel, between two lakes, or in the pool at the foot of sueh 

 channel. 



How am I to catch him? 



A few years ago English methods were described in reprints 

 of English books, or written by Englishmen who had become 

 Americanized, yet who taught that the "Thames style," or 

 "Nottingham fishing-tackle" were the proper methods by 

 which to catch Pike, or other "coarse fish," as they called 

 them, to distinguish them from the gamy Trout. But with 

 the improvements introduced in late years by American 

 tackle-makers, the English methods are relegated to the 

 shades of the past, by American anglers. I will refer to one 

 or two points in the manner of casting, that experience has 



