264 THE PIKE. 



and put on a fresh bait when I came to a part of the water I en- 

 tertained an opinion a pike was lurking near. The smaller wrasse 

 I have never tried, and perhaps from their dark colour they would 

 not prove very attractive ; yet from the tough nature of their scales 

 and of the fishes themselves, nothing bnt the lacerating teeth of 

 the pike would injure them ; so that if pikes would take them, 

 they would be a truly useful bait. Some anglers I have heard 

 speak very highly of the smelt, or rather of the atherine, as a bait 

 for pike : but I have never known them answer with a gorge bait ; 

 and from the extreme tenderness of their heads they are very 

 difficult to fix on snap tackle, and they can never be employed for 

 any length of time at a long cast. 



I have never in any of my fishing excursions chanced to raise a 

 pike with a fly, nor do they seem inclined to take a bait of that 

 kind in this country, though it seems that both in Scotland and 

 Ireland they are often taken with the large salmon flies, and one 

 particular fly I have often seen with which I have been informed 

 the Irish pikes are frequently taken. It represents a large corpu- 

 lant butterfly, being in fact as big as a tomtit ; the wings are con- 

 structed of the eyes of a peacock's feather standing proudly erect, 

 with a lot of the blue barred jay's feathers tied under the wings ; 

 a rough stout body of squirrell's fur, ribbed and finished off at 

 the tail with gold twist ; the head having a couple of gold beads 

 by way of eyes ; the whole altogether forming a very showy ap- 

 pearance. 



But it seems that even very large pikes may sometimes be taken 

 with a common trout fly, as a proof of which Daniel mentions the 

 skeleton of the head of a pike weighing 70 Ibs, which is the 

 largest ever taken by a line, or perhaps ever caught in Great 

 Britain, that was captured with that bait in Loch Ken, near Gal- 

 loway, in Scotland. How this monstrous fish was tempted to rise, 

 does not appear. Possibly the fly might have irritated him by 

 tickling his nose as he lay basking on the surface, and he might 

 consequently have caught a tartar by snapping too hastily at the 

 daring intruder. But the most extraordinary bait I have ever 

 heard of for taking a pike has been recommended me by a most 

 practiced sportsman, and a man incapable of making a false asser- 

 tion, which is about three inches of the skin of a red or dun cow's 

 tail, which being sewn together and stuffed, (something heavy 

 enough to sink it being also inclosed inside,) this being well armed 



