Fishijig by Hand. 1 89 



rather it is not so easy to pull a fish up through two 

 feet of superincumbent water which opposes the quick 

 passage of the arm. The gentle rubbing in the first 

 place seems to soothe the fish, so that it becomes 

 perfectly quiescent, except that it slowly rises up in 

 the water, and thus enables the hand to get into 

 proper position for the final seizure. When it has 

 risen up towards the surface sufficiently far — the 

 tench must not be driven too near the surface, for it 

 does not like light and will glide away — the poacher 

 suddenly snaps as it were ; his thumb and fingers, if 

 he possibly can manage it, closing on the gills. The 

 body is so slimy and slippery that there alone a firm 

 hold can be got, though the poacher will often flick 

 the fish out of water in an instant so soon as it is 

 near the surface. Poachers evidently feel as much 

 pleasure in practising these tricks as the most 

 enthusiastic angler using the implements of legiti- 

 mate sport. 



No advantage is thought too unfair to be taken of 

 fish ; nothing too brutally unsportsmanlike. I have 

 seen a pike killed with a prong as he lay basking in 

 the sun at the top of the water. A labourer stealthily 

 approached, and suddenly speared him with one of 

 the sharp points of the prong or hayfork he carried : 

 the pike was a good sized one too. 



