172 THE PIKE 



should be well provided with leads, floats, and snap- 

 tackle of various sizes ; for, as in spinning, every part 

 of one's gear should be in proportion to the other 

 parts. To hang a couple of large triangles on a small 

 bait is to half kill the unfortunate bleak, gudgeon, or 

 dace, and to effectually scare any wideawake pike 

 which would otherwise have been caught. On the 

 other hand, to place very small triangles on a big 

 bait is tempting Providence, and running fish to no 

 purpose. 



Live-baiting with float-tackle in summer, particu- 

 larly from a punt, is lazy, summer-like work. We 

 may drift down the stream letting our floats out 

 twenty or thirty yards ahead of us, keeping them as 

 near to the weed fringe as possible, or we may try 

 bay after bay among the weeds, sending a small dace 

 working round and using all the skill we possess to 

 bring it within sight of any pike which may be lurking 

 among the weeds or water-lilies. Then there are 

 the weirpools to be fished, and here in the more quiet 

 but eddying waters alongside the camp-sheathing, we 

 may pick up a good pike or two. Absolutely dead 

 water is a thing to be avoided, and the earlier it is 

 in the season the more likely are we to find the pike 

 in the streams. Later on in the autumn, when the 

 weeds have rotted, the pike begin to spread them- 



