178 THE PIKE 



it runs no danger of entanglement. Such a fishing 

 ground, however, is better worked with float-tackle 

 than with the paternoster. It may happen that when 

 pike fishing with paternoster tackle it becomes 

 necessary to make a long cast, and this may be done 

 either off the reel in Trent fashion, as already de- 

 scribed, or according to the Thames method. 



So far I have only dealt with the subject of using 

 a small bait on a paternoster. With larger baits a 

 single hook is very apt to miss the pike, which, as has 

 been shown, seizes a prey of any size crosswise but 

 in the case of small baits takes them wholly into 

 its mouth. For the larger baits, then, some different 

 kind of hook arrangement is desirable. In the 

 previous chapter I described a triangle with one hook 

 reversed. This is very useful for paternostering if 

 placed at the end of the gimp. Two inches above it, 

 or thereabouts, there should be a single hook. The 

 latter is placed through both lips of the bait, while 

 the triangle is caught in its side. I need hardly say 

 that this arrangement is much more likely to catch in 

 weeds than the single hook, so that in very weedy 

 places it is better to use a small bait which enables 

 one to do without the triangle. 



Striking when paternostering requires some judg- 

 ment. A hard strike is not necessary if a single 



