1 82 THE PIKE 



large baits are available, then the triangle and lip- 

 hook arrangement which I have described in my 

 remarks on paternostering can be used, but there is 

 a very great chance of the triangle catching in the 

 bottom. It should, in any case, be small and placed 

 well up on the back of the bait. 



A ledger is very simply made by placing the lead 

 on the running line. Below the running line comes 

 four feet of salmon gut or a little less, and on to this is 

 looped the hook mounted on gimp. It is well to 

 remember, however, that at the end of a few hours' 

 fishing the lead will probably have frayed the silk 

 line,. a few inches of which should be broken off and 

 the new end re-tied to the gut. 



In concluding these remarks on the practical and 

 technical side of pike fishing, I would add a word or 

 two concerning the importance of using fine tackle 

 on certain occasions. A tackle which will answer 

 admirably on a blustering winter day, when the pike 

 have been kept without food owing to a long- 

 continued flood, will be of no use in the summer, 

 when from their lairs among the weeds these 

 voracious fish can dash out at any moment into the 

 shoal of bleak, minnows, roach, or other small 

 inhabitants of the water. 



A clever old Thames fisherman once gave me a 



