204 THE PIKE 



No pains are being spared to reduce their numbers, 

 but having regard to the vast nature of the under- 

 taking the final collapse of the pike dynasty is not 

 yet in sight. Since pike and coarse fish cannot under 

 any circumstances be permitted to occupy a place in 

 strictly preserved trout streams, the question as to how 

 they may be got rid of must be briefly considered. 



There are several methods which trout preservers 

 adopt and vary according to circumstances for their 

 destruction, but netting is undoubtedly the most 

 efficacious, and indeed a wholesale way of obtaining 

 their object. In neglected rivers, where pike and 

 coarse fish have been allowed to increase in over- 

 whelming numbers, it is customary to net the water 

 systematically for three or four years in succession 

 during the spring and autumn months. When, how- 

 ever, the bulk of these undesirable fish have been 

 exterminated, it is deemed sufficient to net once 

 annually at the close of each trout season. Many 

 fishery proprietors, after a few years of persistent 

 netting, instruct their keepers to use the nets only 

 in those parts where pike or coarse fish are actually 

 seen, and not to drag the water through from end 

 to end. Experienced men can often do more 

 execution by this limited netting than others would 

 accomplish by netting the whole length There 



