ARTIFICIAL BAITS. 133 



these must be stretched tightly on the wool body and 

 -sewn on to it ; the leather should be well varnished, and 

 the tail twisted as usual. I recommend this bait to the 

 notice of economic anglers. If they like to put a strip of 

 silver leaf along either side, under the varnish, and define 

 .a head and eyes, they may render it a little more attrac- 

 tive : but it will be found quite killing enough without it ; 

 indeed I doubt if any better artificial bait than this is 

 made. It will stand a good deal of wear and tear, and 

 has the advantage of being soft to the fish's teeth. In an 

 artificial bait I certainly prefer a soft one to a hard one ; 

 when it is soft, a pike will hold it in his mouth as long as 

 he will a natural bait ; when it is hard, of course he 

 speedily rejects it. A capital spinning bait may be made 

 by cutting off a strip of the silver belly of a mackerel and 

 rolling it on over a chapman lead, to which it may be lashed 

 with turns of white silk. It will stand a deal of wear and 

 tear, and when baits are scarce is very attractive. 



Pike are also taken in some waters with an artificial fly, 

 and it is not a very uncommon thing for the angler to 

 hook one on his salmon fly, nor to lose fly and all in con- 

 sequence. I remember taking one on Lough Conn with a 

 salmon fly just at dusk, and was much puzzled at first to 

 make out what I had got on. The kind of fly most com- 

 monly employed is one of large size, with a pair of big 

 outspreading hooks, the body being composed of divers 

 coloured pig's wool (blue, yellow, and green), is as thick 

 as a man's little finger ; it has a large heron's or other 

 liackle for legs ; for the wings, two eyes from a peacock's 

 tail, with a few showy hackles ; wide gold or silver tinsel ; 

 a tail of various coloured hackles ; and, at the head, two 

 glass beads are strung on to represent eyes. This appa- 

 ratus, which is more like a good-sized hummingbird than 

 anything else, is cast and worked like a salmon fly, and 

 when pike are inclined to take it, it is the most sporting 



