THE PIKE. 67 



dropped away from it, and there was a gap between the 

 head of the bait and the fan ; and as the lead and wire 

 got play, the whole thing worked more and more loose, 

 and the spinning became affected, besides the fan being 

 half an inch or more apart from the head. Mr. Wood's 

 improvement was to make a loop of the gimp on which 

 the two sets of hooks were fastened, which slid through 

 the eye of the wire, as shown in Plate 2, Fig. 4 ; thus when 

 the spinner was baited, the loop sliding always kept the 

 mouth of the bait close to the fan. This is now a capital 

 method, as it preserves the baits wonderfully well, so that 

 you may often catch two or three fish with one bait. All 

 you have to do is to graduate your fans to the size of your 

 bait, increasing the size of them as you use a larger bait. 

 I also flatten the lead and widen it as much as as I can to 

 prevent any turning round in the belly of the bait. 



Having now described the tackle and the method of 

 baiting it, I proceed to the rod and line, and then to the 

 modtw operandi. The rod used by the London fishers, 

 who are perhaps the best pike fishers in the world, is a rod 

 about 12ft. or 13ft. long (though of late years they have 

 taken to using a shorter one than that), pretty stout but 

 springy, being capable of standing plenty of wear and 

 tear, and a good pull, with upright rings to let the line 

 pass easily and tops of two stiffnesses and lengths, one to 

 take heavier baits and larger fish, and, therefore, shorter 

 and stiffer than the other, which is for ordinary work. 

 Many anglers like these rods to be made of strong bamboo, 

 as being somewhat lighter in a long day's work ; I, how- 

 ever, much prefer solid wood, either of hickory or green- 

 heart, as the weight, not falling on any one set of muscles, 

 and being a good deal thrown on the thigh or hip while 

 spinning, is of no consequence : while, I think, solid wood 



p 2 



