THE PIKE. 33, 



Thirdly, the spinning line should also be selected with a 

 good deal of care. A strong, heavy, waterproof line is not 

 a success by any means when used as a casting line direct 

 from the reel. It should be an undressed silk, or at most 

 only very slightly and smoothly dressed, and the size need 

 not be too thick, nor must it on the other hand be too thin. 

 I, personally, do not like a line too fine for jack spinning, 

 as in constant use winding in and out through the steel rings 

 of the rod it is liable to be chafed flat, and might play you 

 false when least expected or wanted. What I particularly 

 like and recommend for this work is from 60 to 80 yards of 

 Messrs. Allcock's No. 2 or 3 white plaited undressed silk line. 

 These lines are very strong, the No. 2 being particularly so, 

 and they are also very soft and free from all objectionable 

 kinks and curls, which, I might add, is desirable, especially 

 in a spinning line. A line that kinks and snarls in use is a 

 confounded nuisance. I found Messrs. Allcock's (quality 

 No. 108) lines, size 2, to be the most reliable for spinning 

 that I ever tried. I tested one of them once with a spring 

 balance that would weigh up to 2olb., and as it pulled this 

 down I considered it plenty good enough without extending 

 my experiments further in that direction. The three points 

 noted above, viz., the judicious selection of the rod, reel, 

 and line have more to do with the success or non-success of 

 the angler who essays the Nottingham style of pike fishing, 

 than some people would think ; in fact, I consider it a mat- 

 ter of the utmost importance. I have seen men who have 

 been utterly disheartened by repeated failures, and then 

 found out on investigation of their particular cases that 

 three-fourths of the causes of failure lay more in the rods, 

 reels, and lines than in the fishermen who used them. 



I hope none of my readers will consider that I have 

 "been unnece=^sarily tedious in treating this part of my sub- 

 ject and gone into details that would have been better left 

 out. So convinced am I that this subject is not studied 

 sufficiently that I have been led to refer to it at length. At 

 one time I should most likely have only just skimmed the 

 surface and glanced at it in a very cursory way, but the hun- 

 dreds of questions that have been addressed to me by 

 anglers from all parts of the country on the difficulties they 



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