128 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



under-parts of the fish, which is then drawn out. 

 That natural poacher, the pike, is frequently 

 ridded from trout-streams in this fashion. Of 

 course, poaching with click-hooks requires to be 

 done in the light, or by the aid of an artificial one. 

 Lights attract salmon and trout just as they 

 attract birds, and tar-brands are frequently used 

 by poachers. Shooting is sometimes resorted to, 

 but for this class of poaching the habits and 

 beats of the water-bailiffs require to be accurately 

 known. The method has the advantage of being 

 quick ; and a gun in skilful hands, and at a short 

 distance, may be used without injuring the fleshy 

 parts of the body. That deadly bait, salmon-roe, 

 is now rarely used, the method of preparing it 

 having evidently died out with the old-fashioned 

 poachers, who used it with such effect. 



The capture of either poachers or their nets 

 is often difficult to accomplish. The former wind 

 their sinuous way, snake-like, through the wet 

 meadows in approaching the rivers, and their 

 nets are rarely kept at home. These they secrete 

 about farm buildings, in dry ditches, or among 

 the bushes in close proximity to their poaching 

 grounds. Were they kept at home, the obtaining 

 of a search-warrant by the police or local angling 

 association would always render their custody a 

 critical one. They are sometimes kept in the 



