NOBBS'S ART OF TROLLING. 



CHAP. IV. 



The Harbour of a Pike. 



THE harbour of a Pike is usually amongst or near a 

 bank of weeds ; for he does not always confine himself 

 to hissed, and lie close like a fox in his den, but often 

 shoots out, arid sports in the clear stream; (like the 

 great Leviathan) takes his pastime in the middle of the 

 -waters. The weeds indeed are his chief refuge, If he 

 be frightened by a net or the sudden disturbance of his 

 approaching enemy, he then strikes to his harbour, and 

 there keeps his garrison. Those weeds which he most 

 delights in, are flags and bull. rushes, ^candocks, reeds, 

 green fog, and a weed with a small leaf, which he often 

 frequents, especially about October, when they begin 

 to rot. If a place is very (hick and weedy, you can, 

 not so easily guess where his lodgings are, but if the 

 river is free from weeds, only here and there a bank or 

 bed of bull. rushes, you may safely conclude those are 

 his retirements and baiting places : if the river is broad, 

 deep, and straight, like a scour, it will be the more 

 difficult to find his recess ; and if there are but few fish, 

 it will be next to seeking a needle in a bottle of hay ; 

 for in such false rivers, you may troll perhaps from 

 morning till night and scarcely get a run. But if such 

 a place is litile beutcn, and have plenty of fish, you 

 may have sport enough ; then you must arm yourself 

 with a deal of patk-nc'e, and fish it very true and slow. 

 There is not so much variety and delight in trolling such 

 a river, because it is all along even and alike, and you 

 cannot conceive where your prey lies: this you may 

 call hap-hazard, and expect a run every throw, though 

 you o three or four hours, and neither see nor feel any 

 fish but your own bait. 



The best and securest way of fishing these wide 



