902 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



large ones, although bold in seizing the bait, are very cau- 

 tious in gorging it : most trollers have experienced that after 

 running out a considerable length of line, the bait has been 

 mumbled to pieces and deserted ; a disappointment here 

 remedied, for a pike has but to seize the bait, and he is 

 caught. 



At both troll and snap some persons have two or 

 more swivels to their line, by which means its twisting is 

 prevented, the bait plays more freely, and to the dead bait 

 in rivers it certainly is an improvement ; in ponds or still 

 waters one will answer the purpose. 



Pike may also be taken with an artificial fly ; the best is 

 made of the peacock's, pheasant's, and mallard's feathers, like 

 the large salmon-fly, and the more gaudy the better. With 

 a common fly a pike was caught in Loch Ken, near New Gal- 

 loway, in Scotland, which weighed seventy-two pounds. 

 The skull is preserved at Kenmore Castle, which is certainly 

 the largest pike ever seen in Great Britain. 



The pike-fly must be made of a large size upon a double 

 hook, fastened to a good link of gimp, with a show of body, 

 formed rough, full and round, with the wings not parted ; 

 but standing upright on the back, and smaller feathers con- 

 tinued thence down the back to the end of the tail, so that 

 when finished they may be left a little longer than the hook, 

 and the whole to be nearly as large as a wren. A fly of this 

 kind has been known to entice pike when no other baits were 

 of any avail, especially when the days were dark and windy. 

 This fly must be moved quick when in the water/ and kept 

 on the surface if possible. Flies of this kind, and various 

 others for pike, are to be had at Mr. Cheek's, 132, Oxford- 

 street, London. 



Pike are also taken with a live bait, fixed to a certain 

 place, called ledger-bait. 



