THE PIKE, & C . 



137 



" if it should he a large fish, and the place open, give more 

 lin'. and do not pull hard at any time, unless your tackle 

 should be in danger of entangling among weeds or bushes, 

 and when this is the case, the utmost caution is necessary 

 lest the rod, line, hook, or hold, should break. When com- 

 pletely exhausted, and brought to the side, take it up with a 

 net, or fix a landing-hook in it, either through the upper lip or 

 under jaw; or, if in want of either of these, put your thumb 

 and finger into its eyes, which is the most safe hold with the 

 hand.* 1 



It is also most judiciously remarked by Mr. Salter: 

 ' When you have hooked a jack or pike, and played him till 

 he is quite exhausted, and you are drawing him ashore, make 

 it ;i rule to float him on his side, and keep the head a little 

 1 above the surface of the water, that the nose or gills 

 m;iy not hang to or catch hold of weeds, &c., while you are 

 thus engaged bringing your prize to the shore ; for some- 

 times you cannot avoid drawing it over or among the weeds; 

 and I have seen a pike touch and get entangled in this way, 

 and before it could be disentangled, it recovered from its ex- 

 haustion or stupor, and occasioned much trouble and hazard 

 before it could again be subdued. 



'' When a pike has been brought to land, the inexperi- 

 enced should be warned to be careful of his jaws, and to ob- 

 serve that after he appears wholly exhausted, he can yet bite 

 severely. He can also, if he be not immediately stunned, 

 make his way again to the water most artfully, by repeated 

 jumps, of which we witnessed a most ludicrous instance. 

 The pike being stunned, it becomes necessary to recover the 

 gorge-hook from the maw. To do this, turn him on his side, 

 and set the hollow of your foot behind his gills ; then with 

 your spud wrench open his mouth, and introduce your dis- 



even twenty minutes, would tire the patience of the most ardent of the 

 followers of Isaac Walton. 



