132 THE PIKE 



little settlement of monks with fish on fast days. The 

 old religious establishment had long since disappeared : 

 in its place had been built a large country house, and 

 this was, in time, deserted by its owner and turned 

 into a charitable institution. Now, alas ! the lake 

 itself has vanished, the waters having drained down 

 into the workings of a large colliery. I was told that 

 the best way of fishing it was with the paternoster, 

 and my friend would supply me with plenty of small, 

 live gudgeon for the purpose. 



There was a punt on the water, and, true to 

 promise, in a fish-box near it an abundance of lively 

 little baits. I commenced by paternostering in all 

 the most likely spots, but at the end of two hours 

 had only caught one fish so small that I returned it 

 to the water ; and all this time I could see, by the 

 movements of the rudd with which the lake abounded, 

 that the pike were feeding eagerly round the sides 

 in shallow water. Feeling confident that I was not 

 making the best of my opportunities, I took off the 

 paternoster and put up some very light spinning 

 tackle, mounting a small gudgeon on a proportionately 

 small Chapman spinner. Then, and not till then, 

 fortune smiled on me, and I began to catch pike 

 faster, I think, than I had ever caught them in my 

 life before. They were not large fish, and I returned 



