120 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



Thus, in the question of the amount of water covered, the 

 ' cast down stream ' must be held to be radically bad, the argu- 

 ments being about equally divided between the ' cast diagonal ' 

 and the ' cast straight across ; ' but on the second point, viz. 

 the presenting of the bait to the fish in the most attractive 

 manner, the advantage will be found to be all in favour of 

 the .diagonal mode of casting. 



The fish, it will be remembered, lie with their heads up 

 stream ; and the object, must, of course, be to show them the 

 bait, whilst showing them at the same time the least possible 

 proportion of the line or trace. Bearing this point and a 

 most vitally important one it is in view, the cast straight dmvn 

 stream will again be at once ' put out of court,' inasmuch as it 

 is evident that, except at the very extremity of the cast, the 

 whole of the line and trace must pass right over the fish's eyes 

 before he can possibly see the bait The question, therefore, 

 narrows itself as between the ' diagonal ' and ' straight across ' 

 casts ; and as the cast diagonal fishes at least one-third more 

 water than the cast straight across without any counterbalancing 

 drawback, and indeed, with an additional gain in the item of 

 making the bait spin better, inasmuch as it is worked the whole 

 time more against the stream, it can hardly be doubted that 

 the jury will find a verdict in favour of the diagonal cast, fur 

 all ordinary river spinning. 



STRIKING AND PLAYING. 



So far as to casting. Presuming the spinner to have 'run' 

 a fish, the next point is to strike him, a part of the performance 

 which is much more critical than many trailers are, perhaps, 

 aware of. Whatever may be the case as to ' striking from the 

 reel ' in the instance of salmon or trout fishing when only a 

 single, or at most a double, hook has to be made to penetrate 

 over the barb, there is no doubt that in fishing for pike with a 

 large bait, decorated with some half-a-dozen hooks, striking with 

 a tight line is most essential to the proper hooking of the fish. 



