80 THE SCIENTIFIC ANGLER. 



service for wings, pheasant for legs, beads for eyes, and 

 the remainder forming the body.* 



The largest fish seem most partial to the fly ; whether 

 it is that they are hunger-bitten, or whether they rise in 

 the spirit of wantonness, we cannot pretend to say. 

 From the position of the eyes, situated as they are upon 

 the top of the head, he naturally sees more directly above 

 than around. In the northern lakes, pike are very often 

 taken with the fly wherever they abound, whenever they 

 are in the humour for rising, for like all other species, 

 they have their off and on terms, even when in season. 



In a work devoted solely to the more scientific methods 

 of taking fish, it may appear out of place to refer to what 

 are sometimes deemed repulsive styles or systems. We 

 would, however, crave the forbearance of those of our 

 readers whose sentiments may savor of these, for a brief 

 space, as we cannot omit a few remarks upon frog-fishing 

 for pike, which is held in such high repute by veteran 

 pike-fishers. The style most in vogue is to work the frog 

 as a live bait; the hook, which should be of special length, 

 strength, and size, should be passed through the bottom 

 lip, and under the stomach, the bend being then secured 

 to the thigh of one of the hind legs by a scrap of silk of 

 the right shade. This is conveyed through an opening 

 in the foliage on the banks of the water, a few odd feet 

 only of the line being out. When through, a gentle 

 swing motion is described by the line and the lure, a 

 sudden lurch or spring being given when at some dis- 

 tance, to reach the spot desired; the line, as before stated, 



*Mr. W. Thomson, a practical angler, residing in Barrie, Ont., in a 

 communication to "The American Angler," states, that upon ob- 

 serving a flock of young ducks disappear, one by one, when feeding 

 along the edges of the weeds, and suspicious that a pike was the cause, 

 he procured a bunch of greenish yellow Berlin wool and fashioned it 

 into the rude shape of a duckling. With this clumsy lure, he soon 

 landed a well-conditioned pike of nearly fourteen pounds. 



