74 SPINNING. 



rather akin to shooting pheasants running or hares 

 sitting. 



Spinning takes a high class in the noble school 

 of fishers ; and the man who excels in it may 

 fairly rank himself as the equal of any other pro- 

 fessor of the art. 



The best bait for spinning is a dace ; the fish 

 is sufficiently tough, and admirably shaped for the 

 purpose. The roach is too broad in proportion to 

 its length to spin properly, and the scales of the 

 gudgeon are not sufficiently bright to attract the 

 notice of the pike. I think, too, that this fish has an 

 especial affection for the dace. On one occasion 

 last year, I was fishing in company with a gentle- 

 man who was certainly not my superior, either in 

 practical or theoretical knowledge of the art. He 

 was provided with dace, I fiad only roach to fish 

 with ; he caught nine fish to my one, and when he 

 kindly gave me a couple of dace, I killed two pike 

 with them. No doubt a dace spins much more 

 truly than a roach, but I do not consider that the 

 result was much affected by this fact ; for, as I 

 shall state hereafter, a " wobble " in the bait is 

 rather advantageous than otherwise ; but I believe 

 that the pike, being well fed and dainty, felt and 

 manifested a decided predilection for the one fish 

 over the other. 



