54 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



Perhaps I used i\: at different seasons of the year, or perhaps 

 when the eels were on the run, and when the pike were looking 

 out for them ; or perhaps when eels were not running and, 

 consequently, somewhat of a delicacy. Unfortunately, my 

 notes do not show all this, so I can only state the bare fact, 

 without attempting any theory to explain it. 



No doubt we have other instances, like that of the spoon- 

 bait, where the 'sensation' has certainly seemed to wear off 

 after the fish have become accustomed to the novelty. Consider- 

 ing, however, that enough salted eel-baits can be carried in a 

 small box or bait-can to last the spinner easily for a week, and 

 that these can be kept and used again if not wanted, it would 

 seem to be worth while where there is any difficulty in pro- 

 curing fresh bait, to give the salted eel at least a trial. 



Here is a prescription for preserving whitebait discovered 

 by Mr. Rolfe, and mentioned by Mr. Greville Fennell in the 

 field. It certainly 'sounds well,' though I should have 

 thought whitebait likely to make the tenderest rather than 

 the toughest of baits, whether fresh or preserved. In other 

 respects the fish would, no doubt, prove attractive as a 

 spinning-bait, as its scaling is brilliant, and its shape not much 

 unlike a bleak : 



One day when he had tried in vain for bait at the tackle shops, 

 Mr. Rolfe saw some more than usually large whitebait fresh from 

 Gravesend. Selecting the biggest, he popped them into a wide- 

 mouthed bottle of methylated spirit. He was thus independent, and 

 equipped for the occasion, finding them not only excellent sub- 

 stitutes, but in every respect superior to any bait to which he had 

 been used. At the opening of the present trouting time this bottle 

 of bait turned up with the tackle, and Mr. Rolfe's surprise was 

 great indeed to find that these whitebait, instead of turning grey 

 and black and losing their brightness, as minnows, &c., do, were 

 not only as silvery as the day they were caught, but had acquired so 

 extraordinary a toughness that, he assures me, he has taken three 

 and four fish with a single bait. Why the methylated spirit should 

 have these gratifying effects upon saltwater fish, and deteriorate 

 those of frtsh water, I leave to longer heads than mine to determine. 

 If it is the addition of a trace of salt, the experiment might be tried 



