152 THE PIKE 



a good depth. If he is fishing deep water, and keeps 

 his bait too high, pike lying among the weeds pro- 

 bably do riot see it, or, if they do get a glimpse of it, 

 regard it as too distant an object to pursue. If, on 

 the other hand, it is spun too deep, it is-' only brought 

 within the vision of those fish which are lying imme- 

 diately under it. If the water is somewhat thick, then 

 the bait should be allowed to sink well before the 

 line is wound or drawn in, or a heavier lead can be 

 used. It is obviously all-important that as many pike 

 as possible should see the bait, and we should always 

 keep this point well in mind. 



Not a few Thames fishermen claim that their 

 particular method is more deadly than spinning from 

 the reel, because the drawing in of the line with the 

 hand gives the bait an irregular movement which is 

 considered to be more attractive to the pike than the 

 steady spin which results when the line is wound in 

 on the reel. But as the most deadly method of 

 spinning, if it may be so termed, is to trail a spinning- 

 bait behind a boat which is rowed very steadily along, 

 I do not think there is much in this contention. As 

 for myself, I usually adopt the Thames method when 

 fishing from a punt, and cast from the reel when 

 spinning from the bank. I find I can cast with 

 greater accuracy by the Thames method, and it 



