THE PIKE. 113 



The reel described and recommended in Chapter IT. for 

 the bottom fisher will be just the thing ; except that the size 

 should be a four and a half inch one, as it will hold the line 

 better, and the bait can be spun home much more comfort- 

 ably ; and for a line I should use a plaited one, as they are 

 better than the twisted ones. Select one of middling stout- 

 ness, but not too thick or heavy. A Nottingham spinning 

 line or one that is made by the Manchester Cotton Company 

 is the best. Undressed ones are best, the dressed lines fur 

 spinning are not so good in my idea. The lines recommended 

 are very cheap, and will do for any sort of pike fishing. 



To spin a bait properly the angler requires a trace, a lead, 

 and a night of hooks on which to fasten his bait. The trace 

 consists of a yard of stoutish gimp with a steel loop and 

 swivel on one end and a large loop on the other, to which the 

 reel line is fastened. Some anglers use stout twisted gut for 

 these traces, but gimp is the cheapest. On the bottom of 

 this trace, and fastened to the steel loop and swivel is a lead, 

 and a lead that hangs below the line is the best. I used to 

 make these leads something in this fashion : I took one of the 

 long pear-shaped leads that are termed heavy corking weights 

 on the Trent, and bent it slightly in the middle, so that it was 

 in the form of a crescent. I next put a piece of gimp through 

 the hole, and then one of the spring loops and swivels on 

 the gimp, lapping the two ends of the gimp over each other, 

 and binding them tightly together with a bit of waxed silk. 

 The bound ends are then worked round till they are inside 

 the hole of the lead, and the two pieces of gimp are next 

 bound together to each end of the lead. A loop of the gimp 

 is now at one end, and one of the spring loops and swivels at 

 the other. The gimp loop of this contrivance is then hooked 

 on the spring loop at the bottom of the trace, and this forms 

 a first-rate lead. The desirability of having these leads is 

 because they hang as it wore below the line, and keep it from 

 twisting and kinking, which it must do if the lead is only a 

 straight one merely threaded on the gimp. A better lead 

 than this has been brought out by the Proprietor of the 

 Fulling Gazette, and is a decided improvement on the old 

 system. 



