I08 THE PIKE. 



of cork, any old bottle cork will do cut in half, with a nick in 

 the flat side, into which the gimp can be stuck. This bit of 

 cork will help the bait to swim some few inches above the 

 bottom, and be more attractive than if the weight of tackle 

 kept him flat on his side at the bottom. 



Fig 17. Disgorging Scissors. 



I think I have said as much as I need say about live- 

 baiting for pike; hooking and playing the fish have been 

 carefully considered in another part of this volume ; but I 

 might just mention a peculiar thing that has often come 

 under my notice, and that is that the pike of almost any 

 river or stream prefers a live bait from a strange river in 

 preference to those taken from the same stream in which 

 he lives. It may be fancy, but a can of Thames dace 

 seemed to be more attractive to the Ouse pike than baits 

 taken from the latter river ; while Trent dace were liked by 

 Witham jack, and vice versa. I don't know if there is any- 

 thing in this, but still during my career as a professional 

 several like cases have cropped up that have been, to say 

 the least, very peculiar. Pike are sometimes caught with 

 very queer live baits, the two most noteworthy instances that 



