CHAPTER VI. 



LIVE- AND DEAD-BAIT GORGE-FISHING. 



THE use of live- or dead-bait on gorge-tackle 

 is never practised by true anglers who fish in 

 a sportsmanlike manner. A great objection is its 

 cruelty, for the pike swallows the bait and is usually 

 hooked in the stomach, and in its efforts to escape 

 the intestines are either torn or dragged up, causing 

 such extreme pain that the fish can give no sport to 

 the angler, but is in fact hauled out like a log of 

 wood. Small fish are so injured that if returned to 

 the water they are sure to die ; but snap-fishing is 

 humane and sportsmanlike, because the fish are 

 always hooked in the mouth by this method ; they 

 suffer no pain, and only fight against the restraint of 

 their tether ; moreover, small jack can be carefully 

 unhooked and replaced uninjured in the water, which 

 may also be said of spinning and paternoster- 

 fishing. But should pike have established them- 

 selves in valuable trout or grayling rivers, from 

 whence it is desirable to exterminate them by any 

 and every means, and they are looked upon as no 

 better than vermin, then and there, perhaps, gorge- 

 fishing is allowable. 



