THE RUX AXD THE POUCH. 129 



up in piscatorial electricity as to be able to do so. As a 

 general rule, a pike moves as soon as lie has pouched ; 

 when he does, stick the hooks into him at once. If by 

 chance he does not, but appears desirous of making a 

 time bargain of it, the angler must, as I have said, use his 

 own discretion as to the time when he shall think it de- 

 sirable to foreclose the mortgage which Mr. Pike has taken 

 of him. As I have said, it is not a nice way of fishing ; 

 the fish is very apt to reject the bait on feeling the lead 

 within it, or from not being very hungry, and the waiting 

 is tedious, and the whole affair is so unsatisfactory and 

 savage that let those follow it who list, for I'll none of it . 

 Nobbes, who is called ' the father of trolling,' gives very 

 special and particular directions with respect to it. To 

 those who desire to know more of it, I say, read Nobbes. 



Live baiting is the next method for discussion, and thr 

 only way in which this should be pursued is by means of 

 the live snap. Gorge baits of all kinds, which were in- 

 vented by the father of cruelty, should not be permitted 

 on any excuse where pike are preserved, because no matter 

 what the size of the fish may be, they kill him. The live 

 snap is usually composed of a triangle, of which one hook 

 is smull and two are large. The small one is whipped on 

 high up at the top of the shanks of the two larger ones, 

 and it is on this small one the fish is fixed by the back fin, 

 the two large ones hanging down the side. A better plan 

 by far is to use a largish triangle, a single hook being 

 whipped on the gimp a little above it, the triangle hanging 

 down loose by the fish's side (see Plate VI. figs. 11 and 12, 

 p. 130). As soon as the angler perceives a bite, giving 

 the fish half a minute or a minute to get the hooks well 

 into his mouth, but not time enough to pouch, he strikes. 

 Some use a similar tackle to this, but with a sliding single 

 hook. The sliding hook is hooked into the bait's mouth, 

 and the triangle behind the back fin. I see no advantage 



K 





