62 DAYS AMONG THE PIKE AND PERCH 



seldom played me false. My experience with pike flights 

 has taught me that to get the best results the gimp should 

 be threaded through the bait, and not stuck outside. 



A very good flight I saw in use one day was made with 

 a single hook at end, a hook at least two and a half inches 

 long in the shank, and more than an inch across the bend. 

 Close to the end of shank was a flying treble, hanging from 

 a short length of gimp, and above that was a movable 

 lip hook ; that large single tail hook bent the bait 

 capitally, and it had some holding power when a pike 

 was hooked. 



This flight seemed to be an improvement on the old 

 Pennell, the S-shaped pattern of the tail hook of the latter 

 being much improved by the long-shanked wide-bent single 

 of the other. The old flights and methods of mounting 

 adopted by the Trent men are my ideal of how a bait should 

 be used, the gimp threaded completely through from mouth 

 to vent. 



To save the pike fisherman trouble in mounting and 

 arranging his own flights, spinners in endless variety have 

 been made, all more or less effective for the work they have 

 to do. Almost every manufacturer of fishing tackle in 

 England has a pet spinner of his own, which he says is the 

 very best and most killing of any. Now these spinners are 

 all very well in their way, and likely to save trouble in 

 baiting ; but when you come to look at them, the huge 

 fans at the head and the rank arming of hooks on either 

 side of the bait are not calculated to reassure a suspicious 

 jack who moves in a clear- water stream. 



When you come to examine all these spinners, you 

 will find that the model adopted by most of the makers 

 is after the old-fashioned Chapman, a spinner that still 

 holds its own with the best. The idea in nearly every 

 instance is the same : a stiff wire to thrust down the belly 

 of bait, a pair of spinning fans that fit close up to the head, 

 and hooks ranging from three trebles to as many as six 

 fixed on either side. Now all these varied spinners are useful 



