Trolling with tJie Gorge- Bait. 323 



it show no sign that the gorging has been satis- 

 factorily concluded, the angler must just exercise 

 his discretion as to when he ought to strike. 

 Colonel Venables, a contemporary of Walton, and 

 one of the c: great triumvirate of angling," thus 

 counsels the fisher : " When the pike cometh, 

 slack your line, and give him length enough to 

 run away to his hold whither he will go directly 

 and there pouch it, ever beginning (as you may 

 observe) with the head, swallowing that first. Thus 

 let him lie until you see the line move in the water, 

 and then you may certainly conclude he hath 

 pouched your bait, and rangeth about for more; 

 then, with your trowl, wind up your line till you 

 think you have it almost straight; then, with a 

 smart jerk, hook him, and make your pleasure to 

 your content." If the reader prefer the Colonel's 

 quaint prose " done " into stirring verse, let him 

 read Palmer Hackle's angler's song on " The Killing 

 of the Pike." 



Some care must be exercised in removing the 

 gorge-hooks from the fish, otherwise there may be 

 damage to fingers, or tackle, or both. Having 

 killed the pike, either by giving it a blow on the 

 head, or, as Stoddart advises, by urging the blade 

 of a strong pocket-knife through the spinal marrow, 

 immediately behind the skull, open the gill-cover, 

 cut through the gills, dig out the hook from the 



