i;6 THE PIKE 



such is by no means the beginning and end of pater- 

 nostering. 



A rather lighter and longer rod is desirable for this 

 tackle than for spinning or live-baiting with the float, 

 and the pike fisher should practise swinging the lead 

 out pendulum fashion, underhand, and dropping it 

 quietly and dexterously into all kinds of nooks and 

 corners, particularly holes among weeds, where he 

 may expect to find a pike. Certainly the best bait is 

 a small dace, though gudgeon are much used ; and 

 very often a gudgeon will attract a thumping perch or 

 two if the tackle be not too coarse. Long casts are 

 rarely necessary, at any rate in rivers, and there is no 

 better plan than to hold a few yards of line in the 

 hand, releasing it, and letting the lead shoot out as it 

 swings forward. 



The line for paternostering should certainly be 

 waterproof, otherwise it is likely to kink, or cling to the 

 rod ; and by waterproof I mean not a mere greasing 

 with vaseline, but a proper dressing with linseed oil, 

 which may be mixed with a little copal varnish say 

 one-third varnish and two-thirds linseed oil, a useful 

 dressing for this particular purpose. The water- 

 proofing will be all the more effectually done if the 

 line, while in the mixture, is placed under the 

 reservoir of an air-pump and the air exhausted. All 



