4 DAYS AMONG THE PIKE AND PERCH 



the very keenest instincts, who never lost a chance ; and 

 the lessons they taught have stood me in right good stead. 



I saw a statement some time ago in one of the sporting 

 papers that Mr. J., the champion pike angler, fishing Lord 

 B.'s private lake, had landed in one day nearly four hundred 

 pounds' weight of jack. I read this over to Tipler the 

 sweep, who just then was casting a pike bait over a likely- 

 looking stretch of the Lower Trent. " Ah," said he, " I 

 wonder how he won that title of champion pike angler. 

 It is ah 1 very well when you can pick and choose your water ; 

 but if he was in my position, and had a hungry wife and 

 children looking on, same as I have over there" at the 

 same time indicating with a jerk of his head a trio seated 

 on the bank " and had to fish a well-tried public river 

 and catch a jack before they could have their breakfasts, 

 I reckon his bags would not be much heavier than mine." 



This neatly sums up the situation ; the great bulk of 

 pike fishermen must of necessity ply their craft in well- 

 fished public waters, and they must know the best method 

 to adopt in ah 1 and every condition of wind, water, and 

 stream. Private lakes that swarm with lurking jack are 

 not accessible to the majority of fishermen ; these men are 

 content to spin on a public river, and consider it a treat 

 worthy a special page in their mental notebooks if by chance 

 a brace of jack going ten or a dozen pounds between them 

 reposes in the bag at night. I know as an experienced 

 man that this is not done without some careful thought ; 

 a chuck-and-chance-it angler now and again drops by 

 accident across a good thing, and gets the fish of his life- 

 time, when he did not deserve it. 



This, then, is the plan I have mapped out for the present 

 volume : my own personal observations and experiences 

 wih 1 be most carefully noted ; hints given on baits and 

 tackle, and the various methods of using them ; when, 

 where, and how to fish ; the smallest cost of the necessary 

 appliances ; all this in plain and simple language that 

 any one will be able to understand.^ 



