86 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



same. Nothing can be a greater absurdity. A pike is regularly 

 on the feed at certain hours only during the twenty-four ; and 

 when partially gorged, or not very hungry, his appetite is dainty 

 and requires to be tickled. At these times a man who "fishes 

 fine " will take plenty of fish, whilst one who uses coarse tackle 

 will as certainly take few or none at all ; and this observation is 

 equally applicable to every description of tackle.' 



Now, as I have before said, the finest material that can 

 be used is the best picked salmon-gut, which, when knotted 

 in the way I shall presently describe, is strong enough to 

 hold anything. There should be at least three feet of gut 

 between the bait and the lead, and as much between the lead 

 and the running-line. Or the trace may be made with single gut 

 below the lead and twisted or double gut above it. 



The way to twist gut for this purpose is to take an ordi- 

 nary gut casting-line of, say, three yards long, knotted with a 

 single fisherman's knot. Soak the line in tepid water ; when 

 it is soaked double it in the middle, but so that the knots 

 shall not exactly coincide. Attach the line, at the point where 

 it is bent in the middle, to a hook or anything that will 

 hold it firmly. Then with the finger and thumb of the right 

 hand twist the two lines together slowly and evenly, separating 

 the two sides of gut somewhat in the form of a V. They are 

 rolled, as it were, between the finger and thumb both at the 

 same time, always keeping the V separation mentioned. It 

 will then be found that the two separate strands will twist 

 together of their own accord, and will always afterwards retain 

 the twist. The left hand, and sometimes the right for a change, 

 will be required during the operation [a rather fatiguing one 

 for the finger and thumb] to keep separating the two loose ends 

 of gut, which have an instinct to come together and crinkle up 

 on their own account. 



If it is desired to make the twisted line tapered, t\vo separate 

 tapered pieces of gut must be used and twisted together, begin- 

 ning at the two thick ends and ending at the two finer ones. 

 This process is equally applicable to salmon-lines, and is much 

 neater than the separate strands of twisted gut knotted clumsily 



