136 ANGLING. 



he was hardly entitled to do, but the reader may 

 form his own opinion from the fact which Mr. 

 Jesse gives, as follows, though in different words. 

 The unarmed gentleman, walking as aforesaid, saw 

 a large pike in a small creek. He immediately 



pulled off his coat, but not his , tucked up his 



shirt-sleeves, and stept into the water to intercept 

 its return to the river, and hoping if he could get 

 his hands beneath it, to throw it on the bank. 

 During this attempt, the pike finding escape doubt- 

 ful, and entreaty vain, seized the gentleman by the 

 arm, and lacerated it pretty considerably. We 

 think the fish was right. The most serviceable 

 kind of person for hiring to frighten pike with his 

 feet, is a stout Greenwich pensioner with two 

 wooden legs. We shall now consider the other and 

 more usual modes of capturing this great tyrant of 

 the fresh waters. 



The pike is in season from May to February, 

 and is most frequently angled for by trolling with 

 a strong-topped rod. The hooks are generally 

 fastened to a bit of brass wire for a few inches from 

 the shaft, to prevent the line from being snapped. 

 Different methods are used in angling for pike. 

 Trolling, in the more limited sense of the word, 

 signifies catching fish with the gorge-hook, which 

 is composed of two, or what is called a double eel- 

 hook ; live bait-fishing is practised with the aid of 

 a floated line ; and snap-fishing consists in the use 

 of large hooks, so baited as to enable the angler to 

 strike the fish the moment he feels it bite, im- 

 mediately after which he drags it nolens wlem 

 ashore. 



