134 THE PIKE. 



in the early part of the New Year (1875), the pike- 

 fishers were completely nonplussed. One well 

 known amongst them, went up the river as soon as 

 there seemed to be a prospect of success, and found 

 the water in colour and consistency not unlike pea- 

 soup. All his efforts were unsuccessful till luncheon 

 time. Then he moored his punt to the rushes in 

 a position commanding a quiet eddy. Discarding 

 the ordinary methods of live-baiting, he affixed a 

 heavy bullet on the trace a yard above the bait, 

 thus improvising a legering apparatus ; the re- 

 sult justified his choice of both place and method. 

 His livebaits were large dace, and the yard of trace 

 below the bullet gave them an opportunity of 

 pirouetting in a pretty wide circle. The angler 

 had fortunately " struck ile " ; the eddy of his 

 choice happened no doubt to be the furnished 

 apartments into which a large family of pike had 

 been driven by stress of water, and the bait had 

 dropped into their midst like manna in the 

 wilderness. 



" Their pikeships one after another simply opened 

 their jaws and absorbed the treacherous dace with- 

 out moving a foot, taking things ridiculously easy 

 until they ' felt the steel ' ; then, running madly, 

 they gave splendid sport. In one lucky hour 

 the angler caught six fish, the largest of them 

 13* lb., 10 lb., 9 lb., and 8 lb., the total weighing 

 49i lb." 



When starting on the war path, never trust to 

 the chance of procuring bait at the riverside, or of 

 catching them there yourself. If you do, it is ten 

 to one you will meet with disappointment, for 

 either the fisherman you have engaged will be 

 without baits, or if there are a few in the well of 



