78 THE PIKE. 



boracic acid or powder is a good medium to pre- 

 serve them, so also is glacialine. I have found 

 methylated spirits to answer admirably, and that 

 in it baits will keep tough and bright for months. 

 Previous to going (some years ago now) to Galway 

 and Lough Corrib for three weeks' salmon and 

 pike fishing, I obtained two one- gallon jars, and 

 twelve dozen small Thames dace, which I killed in 

 the way already described, and then dropped head 

 first into the jars, which were half-filled with methy- 

 lated spirits of wine. They answered admirably, 

 and I killed many fish with them spinning 

 Thames fashion. 



The Irish boatmen had never seen dace before 

 then (for there are none of those fish in Ireland), 

 nor were they acquainted with my mode of fishing. 

 They always rowed a boat about the likeliest 

 water, while the angler, with two rods, towed or 

 trailed two baits thirty or forty yards astern. I 

 brought some of those baits back to London, and 

 used them the following season, when they were as 

 bright and perfect as when put into the spirits. 

 My friend, and oftentimes angling companion, the 

 late Mr. H. L. Rolfe, imparted to me the advantage 

 of preserving spinning baits in methylated spirits, 

 and he repeatedly used large whitebait treated 

 the same way, for the capture of large trout, find- 

 ing them excellent on light spinning tackle, and 

 superior in brilliancy and toughness to minnows, or 

 any bait he had previously fished with. Preserved 

 baits, such as small dace, bleak, gudgeon, sprats, &c., 

 suitable for pike-spinning can now be obtained at 

 most of the London and provincial fishing-tackle 

 shops. 



Six or seven inches cut from the tail end of 



