40 THE PIKE. 



that is just then not in use, it will be found a great 

 convenience. The illustration shows a ring I recommend 

 open for use, and also closed for convenience of carriage. 

 With regard to the net itself it should be fairly strong, and 

 the material barked or tanned, and it will be all the better 

 if it is pretty deep, say from twenty-one to twenty-four 

 inches, and roomy at the bottom, so that when a jack gets 

 inside it is likely to stop in; because if you are spinning 

 with a number of hooks on your flight and get a jack into 

 the net, if this net is narrow at the bottom and shallow, he 

 will most likely roll out again ; and if the hooks of the 

 flight catch inside the net while the pike is hanging outside, 

 you stand a very good chance of bidding him a good bye 

 within the next two seconds, for most assuredly he will 

 speedily shake himself free. Some good pike fishermen, 

 on account of the extreme likelihood of this accident hap- 

 pening when landing a pike in a net, prefer to use a gaff 

 hook for this purpose, striking it . into the fish near the 

 shoulder or under the gills ; but I have known a good pike 

 to twist a gaff clean out of the hands of a fisherman, and 

 at least once or twice I have known the gaff hook to snap 

 off at the bend, and the pike escape with the broken portion 



e 



075 



Fig. 6. Gaff Hook, Opfn and Closed. 

 Sticking in him. The illustration shows the usual sort of 

 gaff that is most in use, open for use, and also closed for 

 convenience of carriage; but, taking things all round, I 

 most certainly prefer a good strong landing net, wide at the 

 bottom and pretty deep. Another very useful article is a 

 tackle case, and this should be of japanned tin, black on the 

 outside, enamelled white on the inside, and made with sev- 

 eral partitions, so that traces and flights can be kept seper- 

 ate. A good useful size is about eight inches long by five 

 wide, and about one and a half inches thick, with two closed 

 boxes in the lid for traces, A tin box is better for pike 



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