THE PIKE. 45 



language to say the very least. As I have hinted more than 

 once in the foregoing pages, that my favourite plan of spin- 

 ning is by casting out the bait direct from the reel, I will 

 commence with that and trust I shall be able to make it so 

 clear that even the most inexperienced angler will have no 

 difficulty in understanding exactly what I mean, but be able, 

 after a little practise, to perform in a very creditable man- 

 ner, without any serious mishaps. Of course he will not be 

 able to do it all at once, he is bound to jerk his bait off the 

 hooks some odd times, and also find after an unsuccessful 

 attempt that his line has managed to get into a beautiful 

 tangle on the barrel of his reel. The greatest difficulty 

 that I have to contend with, is the fact that it is almost 

 impossible to lay down a hard and fast line as to how the 

 rod and reel should be manipulated in casting out a pike 

 bait, in what is known as the " Nottingham style." Even 

 experts are by no means agreed on the subject ; and so on 

 looking at it by the light of many years practical experience, 

 and also calling to mind the various plans adopted by some 

 of my personal friends who, in their own way of throwing 

 out a bait in this style, are as good fishermen as ever threw 

 across river, lake, or stream, I say again that no fixed rule 

 can be laid down, as some men check the reel with the 

 right hand, others with the left. All men are not alike, the 

 plan that is free and easy to one may be difficult and even 

 painful to another; he must throw in the fashion that is 

 easiest to himself, and to get into the fashion that is easiest 

 <;an only be acquired after very careful practice. I have 

 seen anglers whom nobody who knew them, and understood 

 the matter, could by any means call inexperienced fisher- 

 men, cast out the bait with the right hand above the reel, 

 and the fingers of the left guarding the revolving barrel at the 

 top edge, and I have also seen as equally good and as long 

 experienced men proceeding exactly opposite, with the left 

 hand above the reel and the right below it, guarding the, 

 reel at the bottom edge. Each of these plans is equally 

 as good as the other; that is, so far as throwing out the 

 bait, and checking the speed of the reel at the proper 

 moment is concerned. A man must find out which is the 

 easiest and the most accurate of the two plans, that he, per- 



