90 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



If you lose a fish after playing him for a turn or two, let not 

 a moment pass before throwing again to the spot where you 

 lost him, and he will possibly take the bait again ; for pikey 

 is very likely looking all round him in desperation at losing 

 his prey ,and does not feel his scratches more than a wounded 

 tiger or shark does, while his rage is kindled against the in- 

 significant being which has scratched him and then run away. 

 Of course, however, if you give him time to cool and reflect 

 your chance is small of seeing him again. 



Sometimes a pike will jump out of water like a salmon, 

 when hooked. Always drop the point and slacken line to him 

 when he does so, until he is well in his native element again, 

 when you can resume your command of him. It is not a 

 common trick, but I have seen it happen two or three times. 



A pike is never safe with spinning tackle until he is in the 

 landing-net.* Get him there as speedily as possible. He is 

 always in danger of getting off just as you are about to land 

 him, because if you use a landing-net you have to bring him 

 near the surf ace. f Never let your man make a dash at the 

 fish, or he may chance to catch your hooks in the net and lose 

 your fish which is by no means the object you have in view. 

 Let him sink the net well, and as you bring the fish round sweep 

 him into it tail first. If he goes in head first your hooks catch 

 the net, the fish sometimes gives a spring, and you have to 

 sit down and mend your tackle at least occasionally you 

 have to do so.{ 



Having landed your pike, the next thing is to unhook him ; 

 and ware fingers here, for he has woundy sharp teeth. A 

 disgorger (see Plate VI, Fig. 7, p. 93), as it is termed, will be 

 found a useful aid. It is a piece of metal or bone with a notch 

 in the end, and by pushing it against any hook that is fast it 



* And even when in the net I have known them jump out. I was once 

 fishing at Hampton Court with my old acquaintance Mr. Frank Matthews, 

 the well-known comedian. He hooked a fish of about seven pounds ; Wisdom, 

 our fisherman, attempted to land it while it was some distance off, and as 

 he held the net extended it jumped out again into the water and escaped ; 

 ten minutes afterwards I caught the. same fish again. I have, too, known a 

 fish go through the bottom of an old net, and playing a heavy fish in this 

 predicament offers both variety, novelty, and excitement. F. F. 



f The gaff is a most useful auxiliary here, for big fish particularly. F. F. 



j I lost a ten-pound fish in this way in the Kennet some time since : I 

 was perch-fishing and the net was much too small for him, I had no assistant. 

 The bank was too rotten to finger him ; a dozen times I got his tail in the net, 

 but he always contrived to slip out at the critical moment. At last I slipped 

 it over his head, determining to fetch him out with a swing, but at the instant 

 of reaching the bank he jumped out again and into the water, leaving the 

 paternoster hooks fast in the net. F. F. 



