WIRING. 113 



hooks or other obstructions, which would tear 

 the nets to pieces, and the depth is occasionally 

 too great to be successfully manipulated by 

 nets designed for use in the shallower part of 

 the stream. Besides, at all times of the year 

 the pike in greater or lesser numbers are to be 

 found in carriers, ditches, and even the narrow 

 irrigation ruts cut across the water meadows, 

 many of which, being only a few feet wide, 

 cannot be dragged by the wide nets used for 

 the main stream. If, however, it is intended to 

 do the work thoroughly, nowhere and under no 

 conditions must efforts be slackened, nor should 

 a single day's relaxation be permitted from the 

 continual warfare to be waged on the pike. 



A few pike can be captured by spinning over Use of spin- 

 likely places with natural or artificial baits, and spear. " 

 the only objection to this method is that an 

 occasional trout will take the minnow and dace, 

 and get so badly hooked that its life has to be 

 sacrificed. On some days, too, when they are 

 basking in the sun, a few can be shot, but if 

 they are more than two or three inches below 

 the surface, it is scarcely worth while wasting a 

 cartridge on them, as the water deflects the 

 shot, and breaks the force to so great an extent 

 as to render them comparatively safe. Spear- 

 ing is advised by some authorities, and the 

 spear should be a heavy, three-pronged one, as 



I 



