88 THE PIKE. 



sider a swivel a very necessary evil for this work, as without 

 it the line is liable to kink when wet. 



In baiting a gorge hook, the loop of the gimp is put in 

 the eye of a baiting needle, and the point of this thrust 

 down the throat of the bait, keeping it as near the backbone 

 as possible, and as near the centre of the fish as you can, 

 so that the leaded wire will have a foundation of solid flesh 

 to rest in, and not be so liable to tear away by contact with 

 the weeds as it would do if threaded through the intestines 

 only. Bring the needle out between the forks of the tail, 

 and carefully draw the gimp through until the lead and wire 

 are completely hidden in the bait, with the bends of the 

 hooks close up to the nose. Some anglers then tie the tail 

 with a bit of fine twine or shoemaker's flax to the gimp, 

 wrapping it round and round, so that there are no inequali- 

 ties hanging free to catch under the weeds when the bait is 

 withdrawn from the water. Other men clip the tail off 

 altogether with a pair of scissors, but one plan would, I 

 daresay, be as good as the other. Now remove the baiting 

 needle and fasten the loop of the gimp into the buckle 

 swivel of the trace, join the latter neatly with a good fast 

 knot to the running line, and all is ready for action. The 

 best bait for trolling is a good five-inch dace, a small roach 

 will do', so will a large gudgeon ; but a dace appears to me 

 to be the best shape for shooting down quickly, besides be- 

 ing tough and lasting on the hooks. 



Where trolling with a dead gorge differs in a material 

 manner from spinning with a dead bait, is the fact that 

 almost any preserved or pickled fish will do for the latter, 

 the former must have a bait perfectly fresh. When a pike 

 runs at a spinning bait and lays hold, he has no chance, as 

 a rule, to reject it, whereas if the taste of a dead gorge was 

 not to his liking, he could drop it at once. I found that 

 if a bait was freshly killed, and slipped on the gorge when 

 bleeding, the chances would be much better than if the bait 

 was old and stale. In trolling, the angler selects the 

 clearest place he can find and draws down a length of line 

 from between the rings of the rod, and just tosses the bait 

 towards that opening, at the same time leaving go of the 

 loop or length of line he holds in one hand. As soon as> 



