TROLLING WITH A DEAD GORGE. 127 



Having landed your pike, the next thing is to unhook 

 him ; and ware fingers here, for he has woundy sharp 

 teeth. A disgorger (see Plate VI. fig. 7, p. 130), as it is 

 termed, will be found a useful aid. It is a piece of metal 

 or bone with a notch at the end, and by pushing it against 

 any hook that is fast it may be unhooked. To keep the 

 fish's mouth safely open during the operation is not an 

 easy task. Mr. Eolfe, the accomplished fish artist, in- 

 vented a machine for this purpose like to a pair of scissors 

 with a rack. By opening these in the fish's mouth and 

 setting the rack, the angler can poke out the hooks at 

 leisure. He has also invented a pair of stout scissor-shaped 

 pliers with which to lay hold of the hooks, which is also 

 useful (see Plate I. figs. 3 and 4). A small bung is often 

 used for the purpose of forcing open the mouth. When 

 he is quite free, knock him on the head with a short blud- 

 geon like a boat's rowlock, and creel him. 



There arc many other ways of taking pike besides spin- 

 ning. Trolling with a dead gorge bait comes next, but 

 it is not so much practised now as formerly, as there is 

 little which can be done with it which cannot be done better 

 with the spinning-bait. The only advantage it presents is 

 that you can fish amongst weeds which could not be fished 

 with a spinning-bait ; it is still a good deal used in the 

 summer on the upper Thames. In Plate V. figs. 5 and 6, 

 p. 1 1 2, will be found representations of a gorge hook baited 

 and unbaited. The dead gorge hook consists of two hooks 

 fastened back to back ; the shanks are then heavily leaded, 

 and are lengthened ad lib. by means of a piece of stoutish 

 twisted brass wire, made of various lengths to suit various 

 baits. The process of baiting is as follows : Choose a bait, 

 a dace or gudgeon is the best and then slip the loop 

 of the tackle into the eye of the baiting needle (see Plate 

 VI. fig. 8, p. 1 30). 1 Put the needle in at the mouth of 



1 I invented some years since a little leathern machine for carrying 



