226 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART I. 



And some affirm, That any bait anointed with the 

 marrow of the thigh-bone of an hern, is a great temp- 

 tation to any fish. 



These have not been tried by me ; but told me 

 by a friend of note that pretended to do me a 

 courtesy*. But if this direction to catch a Pike, 



* The Pike loves a still, shady, unfrequented water, and usually 

 lies amongst, or near_ weeds ; such as flags, bulrushes, candocks, reeds, 

 or in the green fog that sometimes covers standing waters, though he 

 will sometimes shoot out into the clear stream. He is, sometimes, caught 

 at the top ; and in the middle ; and often, especially in cold weather, 

 at the bottom. 



Their time of spawning, is about the end of February or the beginning 

 of March ; and, chief season, from the end of May to the beginning of 

 February. 



Pikes are called Jacks, till they become twenty-four inches long. 



The baits for Pike, besides those mentioned by- Walton ; are a small 

 trout ; the loach and millers-thumb ; the head end of an eel, with the 

 skin taken off" below the fins; a small jack; a lob-worm; and, in winter, 

 the fat of bacon. And; notwithstanding what Walton and others say 

 against baiting with a pearch, it is confidently asserted, that Pikes have 

 been taken with a small pearch, when neither a roach nor bleak would 

 tempt them. See $\z Angler's sure Guide, 158. 



Observe that all your baits for Pike must be as fresh as possible. 

 Living baits you may take with you in a tin kettle, changing the 

 water often : and dead ones should be carried in fresh bran, which 

 will dry up that moisture that otherwise would infect and rot them, 

 Venalles. 



It is strange that Walton has said so little of TROLLING; a method of 

 fishing for Pike, which has been thought worthy of a distinct treatise ; 

 for which method, and for the snap, take these directions ; aiid first for 

 trolling : 



And note that, in trolling, the head of the bait-fish must be at the 

 bent of the hook ; whereas, in fishing at the snap, the hook must come- 

 out at or near his tail. But the x essential difference between these two 

 methods is, That, in the former, the Pike is always suffered to pouch 

 or swallow the bait ; but, in the latter, you are to strike as soon as he has 

 taken it. 



The rod for trolling should be about three yards and a half long, with a 

 ring at the top for the line to run through ; or you may fit a trolling-top 

 to your fly-rod, which need, only, be stronger than the common fly-top. 



Let your line be of green or sky-coloured silk, thirty yards in length, 

 which will make it necessary to use the winch, as is before directed, with 

 a swivel at the end. 



The common trolling-hook for a living bait, consists of two large hooks, 

 with one common shank, made of one piece of wire, of about three quar- 

 ters of an inch long, placed back to back, so that the points may not stand 

 in the right line, but incline so much inwards, as that they with the shank 

 may form an angle little less than equilateral. At the top of the shank is 

 a loop left in the bending the wire to make the hook double through 

 which is put a strong twisted brass wire, of about six. inches long ; and t 



