104 THE PIKE 



killed down by all and every means. It will not be 

 unsportsmanlike if the destroyer of vermin continues 

 to extract as much sport as he can out of the process 

 of destruction. 



Let me invite the reader to the kind of trolling 

 excursion which some of us enjoyed to the full, say, 

 forty years ago. It is an October day before the 

 floods or frosts have removed the rotting weeds, 

 which are hanging, as it were, by a filament and only 

 require some extra push to be released. There will 

 be many under- water copses of aquatic plants which 

 have not yet begun to rot. Be sure that the pike 

 will be found where decay is least advanced ; he will 

 be lurking in the best of the cover on the look out 

 for any unheeding fish that passes by. 



One of our difficulties used to be the obtaining of 

 baits. Nowadays natural baits for pike are to be 

 purchased at most of the tackle shops, preserved in 

 some effective solution, and if they are not quite as 

 good as the freshly caught fish they are better than 

 nothing. Roach, dace, and gudgeon, moreover, are to 

 be secured, at any rate in the country, but the wise 

 man's plan always was to be certain about his baits 

 over-night. A dozen of them would be placed in a 

 box filled with bran, and a couple would be already 

 prepared for immediate use. 



