THE SPINNING BAIT AND ITS TACKLE 137 



Being thus between Scylla and Charybdis I lost 

 many fish. At one place, I remember, it seemed as 

 if a shoal of ravening pike was searching for food. 

 I cast right across the river and a fish seized the bait ; 

 I struck too gently, and simply pulled the roach out 

 of his mouth. Immediately another pike rose up (I 

 saw them both at once) and took the bait. This one 

 I also lost, and before the tackle had been wound up 

 to the punt a third fish was on, but I did not catch 

 one of the trio. 



Even now I lament over that day's fishing, for 

 such opportunities of sport have become rare ; pike 

 fishers are more numerous, pike are more scarce. If 

 I had been furnished with a strong little spinning rod 

 with which I could have struck properly, if the lead 

 had been hung below the centre of the line, which 

 would have prevented kinking, and if the hooks had 

 been smaller and less numerous, we should have had 

 a mighty take of fish from the most excellent of New 

 Forest rivers. Harking back to the question of live- 

 bait and spinners, I remember that during lunch we 

 put out a live-bait and did not have a run. 



As to which is the best form of spinning tackle 

 there is some difference of opinion among skilled 

 pike fishermen. Probably the truth is that several 

 kinds of flights are equally good. I remember asking 



