PATERNOSTERING. 129 



If in its first rush the pike takes all the line out 

 of your hand, you will have it on your reel ; and it 

 is well in playing a fish to get the line as quickly as 

 possible on the reel, as it prevents the chance 

 of getting the line fouled, or kinked, or in a 

 tangle. Sometimes pike are in a capricious mood, 

 and carry the bait crosswise in their mouths, not 

 turning it. In clear water I have often seen them 

 do this ; in such cases I have placed the paternoster 

 hook through the bait's back fin, and when it has 

 been seized, struck instantly, invariably hooking 

 the pike. In sunvner find autumn they secrete them- 

 selves un.Jcr and bet'vcen weeds ; the paternoster is 

 then particularly useful for fishing such places ; but 

 not more than one hook should be used on the 

 trace, as a second one might get fouled and cause 

 a breakage in the tackle. Better sport is, as a rule 

 obtained by paternostering than by other methods 

 of angling, for the hook is usually imbedded in the 

 upper jaw or else in the angle of the mouth, thus 

 giving little or no pain, the pike fighting against 

 the restraint of the rod and line, when the power- 

 ful efforts made by an eight or ten pounds fish are 

 something to-be remembered. A fish under 3 Ibs. 

 carefully unhook and return uninjured to the 

 water ; and as paternostering, spinning and live- 

 bait snap-fishing are sportsmanlike methods, prefer 

 them to live-gorge and dead-bait trolling. If a good- 

 sized fish is hooked, played, and escapes, try imme- 

 diately with a very small bait ; this often succeeds, 

 and tempts the fish to feed again. On page 126 is 

 mentioned a 30! Ib. fish I captured near Glynde. 

 I hooked it with a large roach on snap-tackle, and 

 lost both pike and bait. I immediately changed to 

 paternoster, put 911 a 4-inch dace, to which the 



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