120 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



set up ; we can, therefore, have no doubt about his 

 redoubling his efforts to hold it securely ; so the 

 strike which follows must be a violent one to give 

 any chance of moving the bait, held in such a sharp- 

 toothed vice, sufficiently to drive the hooks home. 



The chances of hooking while fishing with a live 

 bait are much greater, for the pike takes it without 

 resistance, holds it loosely or, may be, he is in the 

 act of turning it in his mouth preparatory to gorg- 

 ing it by the time you have gently felt for a taut 

 connection between the fish and rod. When spin- 

 ning you may hold hard and strike, a dozen times, 

 only to find that when the fish is near you he opens 

 his mouth and renders back your lure. I have been 

 served thus half-a-dozen times and still he came at 

 the bait, not having felt the hooks. My method is 

 to strike hard and then, if there is no shake to 

 denote he feels the hooks, to slack the line, to give 

 him confidence to loosen his hold a bit, and then 

 strike again, hoping to feel the shake which tells me 

 to hold him tight that the hooks may be driven 

 deeper between his teeth. 



