THE PIKE. 



39 



more annoying than to have a good fish break away owing 

 to the line being rotten by neglect. The accompanying 

 illustration gives a good idea of what a line dryer is like; 

 it has a clamp on one side near the centre, so that it can be 

 screwed to the edge of a table, or the bench, or the chimney 

 piece, and a handle on the other side to wind the line off 

 the reel. I daresay any handy man could soon knock up a 

 similar article, anyhow the expense is not very much, and 

 most decidely it is not a useless expense. I should unwind 

 the whole of the line from the reel, and put the drier some- 

 where in a dry, cool position, and let it remain a couple of 

 days if you anyhow can, before winding back again on the 

 reel. Even if you are out in a strange place for t\vo or three 

 days' jack fishing, the line will be all the better for being 

 dried every night and wound again on the reel next morning. 

 On no account should a line be dried in close proximity 

 to a fire, particularly a dressed line, as the heat may blister 

 the waterproofing and cause a weakness. 



Another actual necessity in a pike fisherman's kit is a 

 good landing net, or a gaff hook; I prefer the former, and 

 this I recommend to be of pretty substantial build. A 

 strong four jointed folding iron frame, or ring of a circular 



N'68 



CLOSED 



Fig. 5. Foi-DiNG Landing Ring. 



shape not less than sixteen inches in diameter, being, in my 

 opinion, the best to employ. This ring should screw firmly 

 and tight into a socket fixed at the end of a staff, the staff 

 or handle can be about four and a half feet long, and made 

 of good East India mottled cane, and if it is made large 

 enough, so that when it is bored out it will hold the rod top 



