1 62 THE PIKE 



heard recently, however, of a certain barge which, it 

 was noticed, constantly towed a child's toy cutter 

 after it. It was supposed that this was done to 

 amuse the bargeman's children who were on board. 

 One day the little craft was seen to capsize and to 

 behave in a somewhat eccentric manner; and the 

 watcher discovered that astern of it were a few yards 

 of line terminating in a spoon-bait, which had 

 attracted a lively little pike of 4 or 5 Ib. 



Finally, as regards spinning, let me say that it is 

 quite the most sportsmanlike and artistic method of 

 catching pike. The art is easily acquired by anyone 

 possessing an average amount of manual dexterity. 

 But to be a master of it, to have every detail of tackle 

 correct, to be able to pitch a bait to a considerable 

 distance with absolute accuracy, to work the bait at 

 exactly the right depth, to draw it through the water at 

 the correct speed, and to miss no spot likely to con- 

 tain a fish, requires almost, if not quite, as much 

 skill as does fly-fishing for our over-educated trout of 

 the nineteenth or, shall I say, twentieth century ? 





