PIKE-FISHING. 27 



PIKE-FISHING. 



THE most pleasant and agreeable way of fishing 

 for pike, is the following. Having procured your 

 dead bait, which may be any fish you can most easily 

 obtain, such as gudgeon, trout, dace, roach, perch, 

 &c. ; or if these are not to be had, a piece of an eel, 

 about six inches long, will answer the purpose. Or, 

 if any sea-fish can be got, they will do equally well, 

 or even better; such as smelts (both the London 

 smelt and the common smelt), herrings, bass, gray 

 mullet, or in short any fish that, from its white and 

 silvery colpur, will show itself well in the water. I 

 have used them from the size of a gudgeon to that of 

 a roach weighing three quarters of a pound ; and if 

 you would be always prepared with bait, you have only 

 to purchase some sea-fish quite fresh, and then salt 

 them, and you will find that a pike will rush at them 

 quite as eagerly as he would have done if they had 

 been fresh-water fish. 



Being well provided with bait, the next thing to 

 be attended to is the rod, which may be short, but 



