so 



THE PIKE. 



But all these points cannot be learned very well from read- 

 ing about them ; a hint or two, of course, that will be useful 

 to the novice can be given. For all the rest, such as hold- 

 ing the rod in the best place, easing or checking the reel 

 with the ends of the fingers in the best manner, the proper 

 distance for the bait to hang below the rod point, and the 

 correct swing to give the rod, in order for each individual 

 spinner to have the best and easiest results, can only be ac- 

 quired by long and painstaking trials and experiments. But 

 don't be frightened, peg away, and you will soon learn. One 

 man of my acquaintance who knew nothing whatever about 

 this style, but was anxious to learn, made such rapid pro- 

 gress during his first lesson that at the end of an hour he 

 could cast out 30 yards without jerk, tangle, or catch. 

 There is one little thing I should like to say here before I 

 forget it, and that is, when making a cast, and the bait has 

 travelled nearly to its destination, lower the rod point to 

 about a couple of feet from the surface of the water, if the 

 nature of the place makes it anyhow possible to be done. 

 More particularly must this be observed if the place spun 

 over be shallow and weedy and the angler not very proficient 

 in recovering his line to wind home again. As soon as the 

 bait strikes the water, the rod point can be raised, and this 

 will keep the bait on the surface, and the hooks not be so 

 liable to catch hold of the weeds until the winding-in pro- 

 cess commences. And now just a few words as to the 

 weight that can comfortably be thrown and the distance that 

 can be cast. 



Careful trials with various reels and lines have shown me 

 very clearly that a small feather-weight minnow, without any 

 lead on the trace, cannot be thrown direct from the reel and 

 rod point. The smallest weight that I found possible to 

 cast over 20 yards was a small spoon which, with its lead 

 and gimp trace, weighed three-quarters of an ounce, this 

 weight being distributed as follows : — ^The spoon at the 

 extreme end of two feet of fine gimp ; at this distance from 

 the spoon was a small barrel lead, then two more feet of 

 gimp, the whole of these weighing as just stated ; and even 

 this wanted a No. 4 line and a Coxon reel to do it with. The 

 ordinary pike reel and line was not equal to the task. A 



