THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 139 



tion to catch a Pike thus do you no good, yet I am certain this 

 direction how to roast him when he is caught is choicely good ; 



aorainst baiting with a Perch, it is confidently asserted, that Pikes have 

 been taken with a small Perch, when neither a Roach nor Bleak would 

 tempt them. See the Angler's Sure Guide, 138. 



Observe that all your baits for Pike must be as fresh as possible. Living 1 

 baits you may take with you in a tin kettle, chancing the water often : 

 and dead ones should be carried in fresh bran, which will dry up that 

 moisture that otherwise would infect and rot them. Vendbles. 



It is strange that Walton has said so little of trolling, a method of fishing 

 for Pike which has been thought worthy of a distinct treatise; for which 

 method, and for the snap, take these directions and first for trolling : 



And note, that in trolling, the head of the bait-fish must be at the bent 

 of the hook ; whereas in fishing at the snap, the hook must come out at or 

 near his tail. But the essential difference between these two methods is, 

 that in the former the Pike is always suffered to pouch or swallow the 

 bait : but in the latter you are to strike as soon as he has taken it. 



The rod for trolling should be about three yards and a half long, with a 

 ring at the top for the line to run through ; or you may fit a trolling-top 

 to your fly rod, which need only be stronger than the common fly-top. 



Let your line be of green or sky-coloured silk, thirty yards in length, 

 which will make it necessary to use the winch, as is before directed, with 

 a swivel at the end. 



The common trolling-hook for a living bait consists of two large hooks, 

 with one common shank, made of one piece of wire, of about three 

 quarters of an inch long, placed back to back, so that the points may not 

 stand in a right line, but incline so much inwards as that they with the 

 shank may form an angle little less than equilateral. At the top of the 

 shank is a loop, left in the bending the wire to make the hook double, 

 through which is put a strong twisted brass wire, of about six inches long ; 

 and to this is looped another such link, but both so loose that the hook and 

 lower link may have room to play. To the end of the line fasten a steel 

 wivel. 



To bait the hook, observe the directions given by Walton. 



But there is a sort of trolling-hook, different from that already described, 

 and to which it is thought preferable, which will require another 

 management : this is no more than two single hooks tied back to back 

 with a strong piece of gimp between the shanks. In the whipping the 

 hooks and the gimp together, make a small loop ; and take into it two 

 links of chain, of about an eight of an inch diameter, and into the lower 

 link, by means of a small staple of wire, fasten by the greater end a bit of 

 lead of a conical figure, and somewhat sharp at the point. These hooks 

 are to be had at the fishing^ tackle shops ready fitted up. 



The latter kind of hook is to be thus ordered ; namely, put the lead into 

 the mouth of the bait-fish, and SPW it up ; the fish will live some time ; and 

 though the weight of the lead will keep his head down, he will swirn with 

 near the same ease as if at liberty. 



But if you will troll with a dead bait, as some do, for a reason which the 

 angler will be gl d to know, namely, that a living bait makes too great a 

 slaughter among the fish, do it w'ith a hook, of which the following 

 paragraph contains a description : 



Let the shank be about six inches long, and leaded from the middle as 

 low as the bent of the hook, to which a piece of very strong gimp must be 

 fastened by a staple, and two links of chain ; the shank must be barbed 

 like a dart, and the lead a quarter of an inch square : the barb of the shank 

 must stand like the fluke of an anchor, which is placed in a contrary 

 direction to that of the stock. Let the gimp be about a foot long ; and to 

 the end thereof fix a swivel. To bait it thrust the barb of the shank into 

 the month of the bait-fish, and bring it out at his side near the tail : when 

 the barb is thus brought through, it cannot return, and the fish will lie 

 perfectly straight, a circumstance that renders the trouble of tying the 

 tail unnecessary. 



There is yet another sort of trolling hook, which is, indeed, no othor 



