THE PIKE. 79* 



is painted a brilliant red inside with a huge tassel of scarlet 

 wool depending from the far end hook. Others, again, in 

 other waters won't look at one like that, but must have a 

 plain dull-coloured article like the wagtail to tempt them. 

 Some places the pike seem to prefer a small and glittering 

 bait with a very even and rapid spin, a good deal like 

 " Geen's Minnow," while others will have none of it, pre- 

 ferring a wobbling spoon. When we take into consideration 

 all these things it is a very difficult task to determine which 

 bait is likely to be the most useful under all conditions, 

 and as a working man angler cannot afford or does not 

 want to be troubled with one-tenth of the artificials that 

 come under his notice, he would like to know which shape 

 out of the whole lot is most likely to do him the best ser- 

 vice. Personally I prefer a good plain spoon ; this bait is 

 one of the oldest artificials, and in my opinion still equal 

 to anything or everything that has yet been invented. Pike 

 have been killed on a spoon bait in all British waters where 

 pike are to be found — down-streams like the Trent, or on 

 quieter waters like the Bedfordshire Ouse and the Norfolk 

 Broads. I have an old spoon now in my possession ifiat 

 has killed numbers of fine jack. One season, on reference 

 to my note-book, I found I got no less than 40 with it, many 

 of them reaching a very respectable size, and it is only a 

 plain spoon, gold colour on the outside and bright silver 

 within, with a narrow red line running down the centre on 

 the inside. Some lucky angler on a certain occasion, when 

 everything was in his favour, might be using any one of 

 the numerous artificials that are made, and get a catch that 

 his wildest dreams never thought about before, and straight- 

 way write to the sporting papers about his wonderful dis- 

 covery of the finest artificial that ever was made, whereas 

 he might have been using something else at the time totally 

 different in shape and colour, and had the same luck on 

 that. He might use the same bait a dozen times after- 

 wards and not meet with anything like such success again. 

 On one occasion I got 4olb. of jack during a single after- 

 noon on my old spoon bait, but the weather and the water 

 was in an extremely favourable condition, and the fish fairly 

 on the rampage; and once the Clipper accounted for nine 



