THE PIKE. 265 



with hooks is trolled with in the same manner as the dead snap, 

 and my informant told me it was a plan he himself had often and 

 successfully put in practice. 



Small pikes, or rather jack, I have sometimes hooked when 

 fishing with a worm, though they have usually effected their escape 

 by hiting through the gut, and so got free ; but I have never 

 known a pike of any size move at a worm ; a taste they grow out 

 of, just as boys when they become adults outgrow their taste for 

 lollipops. 



I have seen very good imitations of frogs, mice, and fish ex- 

 hibited at the fishing tackle shops, and sometimes in the possession 

 of a few of my angling acquaintance ; but I never heard of much 

 being done with any of them. I consider that artificial baits can 

 seldom prove successful in taking pike, their sense of smell being 

 remarkably acute, as is so often exhibited by their turning back at 

 a yard's distance or more from a tainted bait they were before 

 rushing eagerly to seize upon. With the artificial minnow and 

 red ribbed kill devil, I have however occasionally got a run from a 

 pike, and that generally to my cost, as the pike was pretty certain 

 to carry off some portion of my tackle ; but which I had some- 

 times the fortune to redeem by adopting more suitable gear, and 

 again hooking and finally securing the same fish. 



L L 



