42 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



down-stream each cast. About the sixth 

 time there is a tremendous commotion. That 

 is the fun of pike-fishing; they do come with 

 such a furious rush when they are feeding. 

 The strange thing is that they do not always 

 hook themselves on one of those heavy tri- 

 angles spinning with the bait. Whatever 

 views one may hold about " striking " with 

 trout, there is no doubt about the advantage 

 of a real good strike, making the taut line 

 rattle in the rings of the rod, when you are 

 dealing with a pike. It drives the steel well 

 home into pretty hard substance, and the 

 finer the steel is for the purpose the better, 

 as it means a pretty severe strain to get it in 

 over the barb. There is no danger of a break 

 with a fine twisted-wire spinning trace like 

 there is with a cast of gut. Playing a pike 

 seems different from playing any other fish. 

 There is a certain fierceness about the struggle. 

 A note of furious rage seems to commu- 

 nicate itself from the fighting pike up the line 

 and down the rod to the butt, and whether 

 you can see the predatory fish or not, you 

 imagine his malevolent-looking head under 

 the water and look forward to closer acquain- 

 tanceship with his vicious rows of teeth and 

 snapping underhung jaw. The struggle is so 



