THE PIKE. 145 



rushes tied together at each end ; to the middle of 

 this float a string is fixed, in length from eight to 

 fifteen feet ; this string is wound round the float 

 except two or three feet, when the trimmer is to be 

 put into the water, and slightly fixed by a notch 

 in the wood or cork, or by putting it between the 

 ends of the rushes. The bait is fixed on the hook, 

 and the hook fastened to the end of the pendent 

 string, and the whole then dropped into the water. 

 By this arrangement the bait floats at any required 

 depth, which should have some reference to the 

 temperature of the season, pike swimming near 

 the surface in fine warm weather, and deeper, when 

 it is colder, but generally keeping near its peculiar 

 haunts. When the bait is seized by a pike, the 

 jerk looses the fastening, and the whole string un- 

 winds, the wood, cork, or rushes, floating at the 

 top, indicating what has occurred. Floats of wood 

 or cork are generally painted, to render them more 

 distinctly visible on the water to the fishers, who 

 pursue their amusement and the liggers in boats. 

 Floats of rushes are preferred to others, as least 

 calculated to excite suspicion in the fish. 11 * 



This is the only species of pike which o'ccurs in 

 our fresh waters, or in those of other parts of 

 Europe. It is one of the largest of lake or river 

 fishes, and indeed, if the accounts which some 

 writers have given of it be not greatly exaggerated, 

 it occasionally attains a size not greatly inferior to 

 the gigantic inhabitants of the ocean. Individuals 



* BRITISH FISHES, vol. i. p. 388. 

 N 



