92 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



water) than since I have used it. I lost comparatively few fish, 

 and besides basketed several perch, which I had not previously 

 done over the same ground, probably owing to the coarser tackle 

 then employed. The greatest boon, however, for which spinners 

 are indebted to Mr. Pennell, is the complete cure of ' kinking,' 

 accomplished by his mode of fastening the lead. JACK KETCH. 

 Field, Dec. 7, 1861. 



A friend of mine, Colonel Villiers, is in raptures with the killing 

 tendencies of your pike tackle, and tells me he has discarded all 

 others. From my limited experience, 1 fully endorse his opinion ; 

 it is deadly indeed, proving fatal in about five times out of six, or 

 perhaps rather more. From W. PEARD, Author of 'A Year ol 

 Liberty,' ' Fish-farming,' &c. 



The remedy proposed to obviate kinking, pleases me very 

 much, the said kinking having been invariably my bugbear. I 

 have 'discarded line after line all to no purpose, but I feel satisfied 

 that you have found a remedy for this hitherto bele noire of anglers. 

 The perusal of the ' Book of the Pike,' has completely revolutionised 

 my faith in my own tackle. RICHARD B. AUSTIN. 



I gave this tackle a severe trial a short time since ; I tried it 

 with a bleak. Now a bleak is always a difficult bait to make spin 

 well, it is very apt indeed to get out of spinning, and is so soft, 

 that the slightest touch dislodges the hooks and throws it out, so 

 that it often will not spin properly ; and this reluctance with the 

 aggravation natural in spinning-baits, somehow always occurs just 

 at the very moment when you want your bait to spin its best. 

 The bleak I had, too, came from a spot where some hot water is 

 discharged, and this always makes them much softer than their 

 fellows. Added to this they were in spawning condition, and in 

 even a worse state still than ordinary. Nevertheless in spite of all 

 these adverse circumstances, I spun a bleak with Mr. Pennell' s 

 tackle for more than two /tours. I was fishing long cast and two 

 or three times it fouled the bottom and took hold of twigs and 

 rubbish, yet it never once got out of spinning for an instant, but 

 spun on to the last as well as it did when I put it on. With the 

 ordinary three-triangle tackle, the bait would have been out of 

 spinning and the centre triangle loose, in ten minutes, and in 

 ten minutes more the bait would have been useless. ANGLING 

 EDITOR. Field, May 17, 1862. 



Mr. PennelPs plan of hanging the lead is glorious for pike 

 fishing. H. B. Field, May 24^ 1862. 



