THE PIKE. ai 



these believers in extra light and flimsy rods, '"' I once killed 

 a six-pound barbel and a four-pound trout on that rod ; and 

 if it will kill fish like those, why it surely ought to be good 

 enough to kill any jack I am likely to get hold of." True, 

 my friend, I should have to reply to this argument, because 

 I don't look upon a jack as being anything like such a good 

 fighter as a barbel, while he is also any number of degrees 

 behind a good trout. But this is not altogether it ; if the 

 rod had nothing else to do except kill the pike when hooked, 

 why, I should have nothing further to say in the matter, be- 

 cause the actual killing of the fish, especially in clear and 

 unobstructed water, is one of the easiest jobs the rod is 

 called upon to perform. 



When the angler selects a rod for pike fishing, he must 

 bear in mind the following three things: — 'First, some con- 

 siderable strain is required in casting out a heavy bait; 

 second, when a good jack is hooked and in full sail for his 

 favourite weed bed or old root, it wants a fairly powerful rod 

 to turn him ; third, when you get hung up in some tough 

 old weeds with a strong line and gimp tackle, very consider- 

 able force sometimes has to be used to loosen it. These 

 three points are of frequent occurrence in pike fishing, es- 

 pecially in weedy rivers, lakes, and backwaters, so that a 

 very light, flimsy rod would soon get broken, or else strained 

 beyond recovery. I don't recommend a hop pole or any- 

 thing like that, but a rod fairly stiff and powerful, with a 

 nice spring in the top, sufficient to cast out the bait comfort- 

 ably and accurately. 



Pike rods are made nowadays of a variety of materials, 

 and in a variety of patterns ; some of them, I am bound to 

 say, more for ornament than use. Hickory, greenheart, 

 lancewood, ash, two or three different kinds of cane, and 

 even split and built-up cane, with steel centres, all coming 

 more or less into requisition ; but as the latter are extremely 

 expensive weapons, they are utterly out of the question as 

 far as working men anglers are concerned. Some men will 

 swear by a rod made entirely of greenheart, and certainly 

 this wood, when of first-class quality, is very good indeed ; 

 but in my opinion, based on many years' experience at the 

 rod-maker's bench, it is not exactly an unqualified success. 



