8 THE PIKE. 



an island where the stream is, as it were, cut in two, with a 

 considerable quiet eddy between those two streams. By the 

 side of reed beds, among flags and rushes, in corners and lay- 

 byes, at e tail ends of old lochs, up deepish naoKw .trs, or 

 a cutting that has an entrance into the river. A deepish 

 comer away from the main stream, particularly if it is fringed 

 along the edge with a dense undergrowth of weeds, and 

 water-lilies, with a scattered crop of flags and rushes here 

 and there, is, generally speaking, a capital spot in which to 

 find pike. Sometimes very good ones are met with in the 

 rough water close under a weir, more particularly if some 

 very large stones stick up above the surface of the water, and 

 a deep eddy is formed at the back, in which the frothing 

 waters keep churning round and round. I have taken some 

 very good jack from similar situations ; once in particular I 

 got an eight-pounder with a spoon bait, from close under 

 the foot of a weir, in an eddy barely six feet by three, and 

 not more than two feet deep, that was formed by an old 

 tree root that had been swept over the weirs. In swift run- 

 ning rivers like the Trent it is only occasionally that they 

 are met with in midstream where the current is strong, pre- 

 ferring to hug the shore, particularly if that shore has an 

 overhanging bank, and is thickly fringed with willow 

 boughs, weeds, and flags. If they are found out in the main 

 stream, it is generally at a very deep bend, where the water 

 does not race along at such speed as it does over the shal- 

 lows; at these places during the early autumn good jack 

 are often picked up by knowing anglers, who sink a spinning 

 bait deep down in midstream, and slowly wind it home. In 

 slow running rivers like the Bedfordshire Ouse, it does not sa 

 particularly matter selecting the deepest corners ; indeed, 

 during the late summer and early autumn the shallows and 

 weedy places, over which a slight stream wanders along, 

 even if less than a yard in depth, and the spinning bait has 

 to be so manipulated that it must not, for fear of catching 

 the weeds, be allowed to sink even three inches under the 

 surface, are by far the best places to try. During the winter 

 when the weather is cold and frosty, the deeps can be tried' 

 with more chance of success; although this is not a hard 

 and fast rule, as I have taken good pike from very shallow 



