THE PIKE. 75 



quieter waters, or else seek the pools and backwaters that 

 have outlets or inlets to or from the river. 



In spinning for pike it is necessary to have a drop-lead 

 to the trace. By a drop-lead I mean one that hangs below 

 the line, so that it cannot turn over and over in the water. 

 If the lead turns round and round the line will kink up 

 badly. There are several leads that have been specially 

 made for this purpose, one of the best known having a spiral 

 groove running round it. The great merit of this lead lies 

 in the fact that it can be put on the trace exactly where best 

 required for the particular place spun over ; also that it can 

 be bent to form the drop to nearly any degree, and that it 

 can be taken off the trace without undoing any part of the 

 tackle, and a lighter or heavier substituted as the particular 

 case requires. My own lead that I have successfully used 

 for a number of years now, is made and mounted on a thin 

 brass wire with a swivel at each end of it. Traces should 

 have at least two swivels in them, and these swivels should 

 be slightly oiled from time to time, as it won't do for them 

 to stick fast during the process of spinning. I give an illus- 

 tration here of my own particular flight and trace, showing 

 the extra side treble. This trace can be either gut or gimp, 

 according to fancy ; but in either case I find the best results 

 are arrived at by having the trace in that particular shape. 

 Sixteen inches is a good distance to have the lead from the 

 bait, and about 3oin. of gimp or gut between the lead and 

 the silk running line. Speaking about the spinning line 

 having a tendency to kink, I may say that it is a mistake to 

 have too many swivels in the trace above the lead. I have 

 seen as many as three, or even four, swivels in the trace, 

 and yet the line kinked up worse than if no swivels at all 

 had been used. I found it the best to have two swivels only 

 in the trace, one of them immediately above the lead, and 

 the other just below it. The very thing that some spinners 

 thought would cure a badly kinking line, viz., putting an 

 extra swivel or two in, only served to make the complaint 

 worse. 



Years ago we used to sigh for a good preservative, so that 

 baits for spinning could be had when it was impossible to 

 get them in the ordinary way. It used to generally happen 



