A BOOK OF FISHING STORIES 



them as links with a storied past. Should he catch one on the 

 Thames or Ouse, or some similar river, he and his trophy at 

 once become a portion of history, to be recited and celebrated 

 wherever club anglers do congregate. 



Happily 20-pounders are not essential to enjoyment, 

 unless the pike-fisher has been spoilt by too much success 

 in the past. Some of the pleasantest days I remember have 

 been, not those which gave me my biggest fish, but those which 

 gave me moderate sport under pleasant conditions. Three or 

 four pike varying from 5 lb. to 8 lb. caught by spinning in a 

 river are a very satisfactory reward for a day's work, and they 

 are not too heavy a load to carry home. Suppose one had to 

 carry four pike weighing from 20 lb. to 30 lb. three miles to 

 the station ! There is a sort of consolation in mediocrity 

 after all. 



Spinning is certainly the most attractive mode of pike- 

 fishing, and the little-practised method of snap-trolling comes 

 next in my esteem. For live-baiting I have no affection. 

 My biggest pike, a 23-pounder, took a spinning bait, and I do 

 not see why a 40-pounder should not follow his example, should 

 I ever meet with such a monster. The relative efficiency of 

 live-bait and spinner has been much discussed, and most people 

 seem to hold that big pike take a live bait more readily. I think 

 myself that the fact, if it be a fact, is due to the difficulty of 

 making a spinning bait go close enough to, and stay long enough 

 near, the pike. Once one can overcome this difficulty, I be- 

 lieve a tempting natural bait, spun on its own curve, to be even 

 more attractive than a living fish. 



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