PIKE. 215 



into its mouth so that the greatest weight is near 

 the head, and of a triangle or two outside and a 

 lip-hook, which is fastened through the tail 

 Several kinds of snap-trolling tackle have been 

 devised, and most of them have advantages of their 

 own. It does not matter much what one uses, so 

 long as the bait darts about head first in an erratic 

 and attractive fashion, and so long as there are 

 hooks somewhere about its middle. Its body 

 should be quite straight, or it will try to spin, which 

 is not required. As a rule, a pike seizes it as it is 

 descending, and not as it is being drawn up, and it 

 is not always easy to tell a run from a weed at once. 

 One can soon be sure, however, if the line is seen 

 to be moving off sideways. 



Having a run, the novice should strike the hooks 

 well into the fish, and then hold as hard as he dares, 

 lest they come out again. Playing it is like playing 

 any other fish ; landing it is rather more difficult 

 owing to its size, and needs either a big net or a 

 gaff. The former is better in some ways, as on e 

 can return undersized fish without injuring them, 

 sometimes carry a pear-shaped net with a very 

 light rim i6in. wide and 22m. long. It is made of 

 two strips of ash, each 38in. long, iin. wide, and 

 T^in. thick, which are screwed together for I4in. 

 at the ends, and then bent round in pear shape and 



