PATERNOSTEKING. 131 



byes, near " reed-flams," the entrance to wide dykes 

 and backwaters, where the shoals of dace and roach 

 congregate to rest themselves from the stress of the 

 rapid streams of the main channel : for there pike 

 are sure to gather together, so as to be near to 

 their commissariats. In frosty weather dace and 

 roach seek the deeps, and thereabouts will be the 

 pike ; so the angler should swim his bait not 

 more than a couple or three feet (according to the 

 depth of water) off the bottom. Let him keep his 

 bait moving, /.., searching the water : for if 

 quiescent some time in the same spot, most 

 probably his bait has hung up to a weed, or 

 some other obstruction : if so, examine it and 

 remove any bits of weed that may be adhering to 

 the hooks ; for no pike will feed to a fouled bait. 

 But in autumn, before severe frosts have set in, and 

 while the beds of rivers are still carpeted with 

 luxuriant growths of weeds, in which pike often 

 secrete themselves, it is necessary when paternos- 

 tering to place the live bait as much as 2 ft. or 

 even 3 ft. up the trace, so that it may be above the 

 weeds, and within the vision of any fish harbour- 

 ing near : for the angler's chances are considerably 

 lessened if the bait being too near the plummet is 

 drawn down into the weeds and hidden from the 

 pike. Also when fishing deeps twenty or more 

 yards away from you, it is advantageous to have 

 the bait some distance above the plummet, because 

 the oblique angle of the line would let the bait be 

 too near to, if not actually in the weeds : but these 

 details can be left to the discretion of the angler. 

 Another way to angle for pike somewhat akin to 

 paternoster-fishing is with a leger : it is not 

 often attempted unless the water is in flood, and 



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