100 DAYS AMONG THE PIKE AND PERCH 



end, and is, of course, at the extreme end of the tackle, 

 about eighteen inches from the hooks ; this lead need not 

 weigh more than from one to one and a half ounces, under 

 any circumstances, and in quiet water it can be a shade 

 less ; but I like a fairly heavy lead, as it keeps the bait 

 down. 



In paternostering always keep a tight line, whether you 

 coil the line at your feet or cast direct from the reel. You 

 should always be ready to tighten immediately the pike takes 

 hold. A paternoster can be worked in almost an endless 

 variety of ways ; it can be thrown far down a weir pool 

 and inch by inch worked back again, the lead only tripping 

 the bottom ; it can be worked round roots and bushes ; 

 in among the flag beds ; inch by inch every available spot 

 can be searched by this most deadly tackle. You can 

 hardly be wrong where jack are to be found ; and you can 

 use a paternoster in no end of places where you could not 

 use anything else. 



During certain conditions of the water a leger is a deadly 

 kind of tackle for pike. This also requires no float. When 

 a heavy flood or the break up of a winter's frost has caused 

 for a few weeks a strong flush of water, the pike are driven 

 into the holes and eddies away from the main current ; 

 if these holes have a level and gravelly bottom, the leger 

 is a first-class bit of tackle. A round bored bullet or a 

 coffin-shaped lead about an ounce or an ounce and a half 

 in weight will be required, and this bullet should have a 

 two-foot length of rather stout gimp to itself ; a loop on 

 either end, and a small stop close to both loops, so that 

 the bullet or lead can slide easily between these two stops 

 and no further. Below the bullet you can have eighteen 

 inches of strong salmon gut, copper gimp, or the Hercules 

 wire gimp, according to fancy, with a stout, well- whipped 

 loop at either end, and below that the tackle or snap ; a 

 buckle swivel between the snap and the length of gimp 

 above it will be useful for detaching or putting on the 

 bait, etc. 



