THE PIKE, 107 



vents the bullet from dropping down the trace and getting 

 too near the bait. The proper distance between bullet and 

 bait is about three and a half feet. Below the bullet, joined 

 to the line, is a trace of either gimp or gut, with a small 

 long barrel lead on it, and a buckle swivel at the end. The 

 lead, as just noted, should be as thin as possible, say about 

 one and a half inches long and no thicker than a goose quill, 

 so that when a jack runs off with the bait the lead is no 

 obstruction to him. Below the lead and buckle swivel is 

 the tackle, and this can either be a double gorge hook or 

 the tackle recommended in paternoster fishing. A tackle 

 that I used to use sometimes in the deep waters of the Ouse, 

 was an ordinary gorge tackle with the gimp threaded 

 under the skin and brought out behind the back fin in the 

 usual way, and an extra gorge hook mounted on a very short 

 loop of gimp not more than a quarter of an inch long, with 

 a very small hook whipped at the back. The eye or loop 

 of this extra double hook was dropped over the gimp on 

 the main tackle and brought right down to the back fin of 

 the bait, and the tiny hook at back just stuck under the 

 skin. This extra hook then laid flat to the side, and was 

 not so liable to catch any obstruction on the bottom of river 

 as the ordinary treble snap hooks. When a pike takes this 

 tackle you can venture to strike or tighten him nearly as 

 quick as snap fishing, the hanging hooks in the centre are 

 bound to take hold if the pike gets the bait in his mouth at 

 all. Anyhow, when you get a run, I should not allow him 

 to go more than a couple or three yards before tightening 

 on him. If you use an ordinary gorge tackle for legering, 

 when you have to give the fish time to swallow the bait, 

 you should see that the line can be easily drawn through the 

 bullet, so that any amount of line can be taken off the reel 

 without the bullet shifting at all. Every knot, loop, etc., 

 on the line or tackle should be between the bullet and the 

 bait. The long barrel lead that is on the trace some 18 

 inches above the bait is merely used as a weight to keep it 

 from running too far about and getting so far away from the 

 leger bullet. About 14 or 15 inches from the bait; in fact, 

 close up to the buckle swivel of the trace, between it and 

 the long barrel lead, it will be as well to put a rough bit 



