l6 THE PIKE. 



those fishermen who never have a chance of seeing the good 

 old lady's book : — > 



" Take a codlynge hoke, and take a roche or a fresh heer- 

 yng, and a wyre with an hole in the ende, and put it in at 

 the mouth, and out at the taylle, down by the ridge of the 

 fresshe herryng; and thenne put the hoke in after, and 

 drawe the hoke into the cheke of the freshe heeryng; 

 then put a plumbe of lead upon your lyne a 

 yarde longe from your hoke, and a flote in mid 

 waye betwene; and caste it in a pytte where the pyke 

 usyth, and this is the best and moost surest crafte of tak- 

 ynge the pyke. Another manere of takynge him there is ; 

 take a frosshe (frog) and put it on your hoke, at the necke, 

 betwene the skynne and the body, on the backe half, and put 

 on a flote a yerde therefro, and caste it where the pyke 

 hauntyth, and ye shall have hym. Another manere: take 

 the same bayte, and put it in assafetida, and caste it in the 

 water wyth a corde and a corke, and ye shall not fayl of 

 hym." And then again the good Dame instructeth : — " And 

 if ye lyst to have a good sporte, thenne tye the corde to a 

 gose fote, and ye shall have a gode halyngne, whether the 

 gose or the pyke shall have the better." 



This sort of sport, tying a baited hook to the leg of a 

 goose, seems to have been highly popular in former times ; 

 for another old writer on fishing matters tells us that : — ■ 



" The principle sport to take a pike is to take a goose or 

 gander, or duck; take one of the pike lines, tie the line 

 under the left wing, and over the right wing, about the body, 

 as a man weareth his belt; turn the goose off into the pond 

 where the pikes are ; there is no doubt of sport, with great 

 pleasure, betwixt the goose and the pike; it is the greatest 

 sport and pleasure that a noble gentleman in Shropshire 

 doth give his friends entertainment with." 



Another account of a struggle between a pike and a 

 gander, was published many years ago, and ran as follows : 

 — " A farmer in the immediate neighbourhood of Loch- 

 maben, Dumfriesshire, kept a gander, who not only had a 

 great trick of wandering himself, but also delighted in pilot- 

 ing forth his cackling harem to weary themselves in circum- 

 navigating their native lake, or in straying amid forbidden 



