482 PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 



well-known and most common method of fishing with a 

 living fish bait attached to a hook and trace, and suspended 

 in the water by the buoyancy of a big cork float. In large 

 pools or meres, or indeed in any waters where there is little 

 or no current, this style of pike angling is the easiest, and 

 consequently the most idle. After baiting the hook, the 

 angler can put his rod down and leave the bait to play its 

 own part, which it generally does if lively and attractive ; 

 but it always seems to me a far less amusing method, apart 

 from the science displayed, than spinning, or paternoster 

 work, while it cannot be doubted, supposing one has a cold 

 wintry day to fish in, which of the two is better calculated 

 for keeping up the necessary caloric at any rate. A rod for 

 live baiting should be stiffer in its action than the spinning 

 rod, and one of 14 feet, light and handy, will be found long 

 enough for anything, with well-made upright rings of good 

 size, through which the line can run freely. A pike rod 

 with small or moveable rings, is an abomination, and not to 

 be tolerated at any price, and it certainly seems strange to 

 think that nowadays, with all the vast improvements that 

 have been made in sporting tools, one could find any man 

 so conservative in his opinions as to be firmly wedded to 

 the use of one of the old-fashioned rods in preference to a 

 modern one. That there are such men in the world is 

 beyond all question, for it was but the last season that a 

 dear old friend of mine, whom I have preached to any 

 number of times, yet in vain, was out "jacking" with me 

 and lost three or four good fish through using a miserable 

 old rod with moveable rings. The line " kinking " with the 

 wet, ran freely for a moment or two and then got into a 

 lovely " boggle " round one or other of the rings. A guess 

 at what ensued, with a good fish running, is not difficult. 

 The same dear old "buffer" persists in using a muzzle- 



