98 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



your rod drag the bait one or two yards sharp through the 

 water, stop a moment and wind slow again ; you will sometimes 

 find when resuming the slow winding process that your bait is 

 brought to a dead stop, which, of course you must answer with a 

 jerk of your rod. If you feel you have got a fish give him one or 

 two more as quick as lightning, for you can seldom put the hook 

 in firmly at the first strike. When you have got a run you will 

 sometimes feel a sharp tug, but you will invariably be apprised of 

 it by your line coming to a sudden stop, as if you had hooked a 

 clump of wood. When you do hook a fish, give him line, but keep 

 one finger on the reel, so as to preserve the line taut, and play him 

 artfully. . . . When spinning in rivers where there is a strong 

 current, take care to wind very slow, otherwise your bait will be 

 always on the surface of the water. 



The peculiarities of this system, as has been observed, are 

 the substitution of a plain wooden for a metal check reel ; the 

 throwing from the reel (that is, leaving the momentum of the 

 bait when swung out to unwind by its own impetus as much 

 line as is required for the cast) ; and the winding in of the line 

 on the reel, instead of the pulling of it in by the hand and rod, 

 and coiling it loosely on the ground. This plan has doubtless 

 some merits, and in the hands of really good spinners (and not 

 a few such have adopted it) it may occasionally have a very slight 

 advantage in bank-fishing, where the rough or scrubby nature of 

 the ground renders the ordinary loose coils of the line liable 

 to catch or tangle. But I think even in this case some light 

 net or basket-work projecting shelf or tray, strapped to the hip 

 of the troller, would be found a more satisfactory solution. A 

 few years ago I had such a tray made of perforated zinc, which 

 I found a great convenience in worm-fishing for trout, where 

 it is constantly necessary to wade. 



To test the fact that a loss of efficiency does actually take 

 place when the reel -movement is substituted for the hand, the 

 following simple experiment will suffice : drop your spinning- 

 bait into the water, and wind it in as fast as possible, on the 

 Nottingham plan (that is, by the reel only), keeping the point 

 of the rod stationary ; then draw the bait through the water at 



