34 



THE PIKE. 



encounter, have told me very plainly that the information 

 here given is of more than passing interest to the young pike 

 fisherman. During my wanderings after sport I have seen 

 pike fishermen at work in many and various styles, but none 

 of them I considered to be equal to or more scientific than 

 the Nottingham style. As I have just pointed out, this 

 style requires an undressed or very slightly dressed and softly 

 plaited silk line, and an easy-going and accurately running 

 reel on purpose to successfully practise it. On the other 

 hand, if the angler uses the live bait alone and is not 

 tempted to spin the bait over the shallows, a waterproof line 

 will be best for that purpose, and the easy-going and accur- 

 ate character of his reel need only be a secondary considera- 

 tion. Even if he does spin occasionally, preferring to do 

 this with his fingers and with the line laid at his feet or 

 gathered up in coils in his left hand, the waterproof line is 

 still the best to use, and any brass, metal, or common wood 

 reel, provided it is fairly stout — ^not too heavy — and large 

 enough to hold the line, will do very well. A good water- 

 proof line is rather an expensive item ; of course there are 

 cheap dressed lines; but in many cases these cheap lines 

 turn out frauds of the very worst character. You cannot 

 expect a good lasting pike line for, say, a halfpenny a yard. 

 I never knew one yet to be up to much that could be bought 

 for less than a penny a yard, and even some of these were 

 nothing to crack about. I know lots of pike fishermen who 

 prefer to buy the pure silk plaited lines and dress them 

 themselves; but this is a long and tedious job. The cheap 

 dressed lines, I fancy, are waterproofed with some sort of 

 composition that has an acid mixed with it. This, I think, 

 is done for a twofold purpose, that is, to give the line a 

 bright and glossy appearance, and also to dry them very 

 quickly. In some of the cheaper kinds of dressed lines this 

 waterproofing only covers the surface, or outside of them, 

 and rapidly peels or chips off when used for a short time; 

 and then again I have fancied more than once that the acid 

 used in the dressing causes the line to rot after it has been 

 for some little time in contact with the water. If the pike 

 fisherman prefers to buy his dressed line, or has no time on 

 his hands to do it himself, he should see that it is of the 



