THE PIKE. 69 



brightness with scarcely any success ; in fact, a careful peru- 

 sal of my note-book for several seasons confirms this. 

 When the water was very clear and bright — when every hook 

 is plainly visible halfway across the river to both fish and 

 fisherman, it is very little good throwing a bait. I have 

 tried under these conditions all sorts of dodges, using a 

 single gut trace with the very smallest hooks dressed on 

 000 copper gimp, and only four or five inches of this, just 

 where the pike's teeth are likely to be if he takes hold ; and 

 for bait a four-inch glittering bleak. I have stirred the 

 fish certainly — fair sized ones I mean — and seen them fol- 

 low it, and tried everything I knew to make them take hold, 

 but no, they appeared to me to be a deal too crafty to take 

 a bait when even that fine tackle was so plainly exposed. 

 Small ones of a pound, or even less under these conditions, 

 are apt to be a nuisance ; they will persist in taking the bait 

 when their elders consider that bait is to be avoided at any 

 cost. I have been forced to put extra bright water as one 

 of the conditions not very conducive to sport when spin- 

 ning. A few odd small ones may be got, with here and 

 there at long intervals a fair sized one; but that is about 

 all. Of course, I am now alluding to public rivers that are 

 pretty well spun over nearly every day. A good private 

 water that is not so hunted to death, especially if it is a 

 clear-water lake, is a different thing ; it hardly matters what 

 sort of tackle is used, or what sort of baits, the only con- 

 dition being whether the fish are on the feed or dead off. 

 In spinning over public well-fished waters, when the 

 streams have run down very sluggish and they are gin- 

 bright, a gudgeon is as good a bait as can be tried, and this 

 should be mounted on very small hooks with a trace of pale 

 blue stained salmon gut. An eel-tail mounted on a large 

 single hook, with a bit of lead round the shank is also 

 another very good clear-water spinning bait. The looped 

 side treble, as recommended for spinning a dace, will also be 

 a valuable addition to the eel-tail bait. In a clouded 

 water the two best baits to use are bleak and sprats, next 

 to these come dace, while roach or any other small fish can 

 be tried if nothing else is forthcoming. In a river or lake 

 where the jack run very large and the water is at all coloured. 



