62 THE SCOTTISH ANGLER. 



the edge, lay down your rod, and lift him upon the 

 bank. In order to disengage your hook from the en- 

 trails of this formidable fish, the gills should be forced 

 open, and a knife introduced for the purpose, taking 

 care previously to thrust it through the spine-bone of 

 your victim, and so prevent the possibility of your 

 catching a Tartar. Unfasten your hook from the wire, 

 before drawing the latter through the mouth of the 

 pike, as otherwise it is again apt to catch among the 

 teeth, from which it may be somewhat difficult to ex- 

 tricate it, without incurring a few scratches. 



Should a fish, after having bitten, abandon your 

 gorge-hook, try him with a running bait upon swivels, 

 and let this be a fresh trout of a smaller size than your 

 other, and fixed upon a gimp tackle, with the tail 

 downwards, as in minnow fishing. See that it spins 

 judiciously, and when the pike rises, let him turn with 

 the bait before you strike. River pike, it may be re- 

 marked, seldom play so well as those in lochs. They 

 push generally below the banks instead of striking 

 across, and look out for old stumps upon which to en- 

 tangle and break your line. One ought, therefore, to 

 make quick sport with such rascals running them down 

 upon level banks in a twinkling, and before they are able 

 to get under weigh. 



The third method of angling for pike is with the fly 

 a kind of fishing not much in use, but still on some 

 waters very deadly. The pike-fly should be large and 

 gaudy, fabricated of divers feathers and tinsels to re- 

 semble the king-fisher, or a huge dragon-fly. Use it in 

 a strong warm wind, upon water from six to two feet 

 deep, and near weeds. You will kill with it fish of 

 various sizes, from ten inches in length and upwards ; 

 very heavy ones, however, refuse to take it, on ac- 

 count probably of the exertion necessary in order to 



