ioo PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



Before dismissing this part of the subject, I ought probably 

 to mention the system not unfrequently adopted, by Thames 

 trout spinners more particularly of winding in the line by 

 making a figure of eight over the thumb and finger of the left 

 hand, or an alternative method coiling it in a ball in the 

 hollow of the hand. I fear that it would be impossible to give 

 on paper such a description of either of these processes as 

 would be of any use towards putting them into practice ; I 

 should rather suggest a few lessons from some experienced 

 Thames spinner. 



These two methods of drawing in the line are, it is to be 

 observed, much more suitable to spinning such as that which 

 commonly happens for trout and pike on the Thames that is, in 

 swift rushing water where the stream of itself suffices to spin 

 the bait and very little auxiliary movement is required than 

 to the case of ordinary river or lake spinning where the line 

 has to be pulled in rapidly in order to prevent the bait 

 sinking. 



As to the Where of spinning, there is no open water, whether 

 pond, lake, river, or canal, in which it is not applicable, and 

 I really hardly know to which I should myself give the 

 preference as a matter of taste. I decidedly prefer, how- 

 ever, shallow to deep water for spinning, as in deep water it is 

 difficult to insure that the bait is seen by the fish a some- 

 what important point and, indeed, when the spinner is no 

 longer able to see or imagine that he can see the river bottom, 

 it is difficult for him to judge at what precise depth he ought 

 even to attempt to spin. 



It is in the case of pike-fishing, in fact, as with most other 

 fishing the best place to fish is not where most fish are (or are 

 supposed to be) but where they can most easily be fished for 

 and caught. Some of the prettiest spinning that I have ever 

 had has been in water from a foot-and-a-half to two-and-a-half 

 or three feet deep where the great difficulty has been to make 

 the bait spin ' shallow ' enough. I have in my mind's eye just 

 such a spot below Braemore Bridge on the Avon already 



