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MAKING A FISHERY. 



Advantage of 

 wiring pike 

 before 

 spawning. 



times, the pike will be apparently cowed and lie 

 motionless until the fatal noose is over it. 



In the early spring, when most of the pike are 

 up the ditches and carriers preparatory to 

 spawning, a zealous keeper will be out day after 

 day, and the number of pike he can wire is 

 surprising. When a pair of fish are together in 

 a ditch, it is most frequently the case that, of 

 the two, the larger is the female and the smaller 

 the male. The advice has been given to wire 

 the male and leave the female for a day or 

 two, as, generally, another male fish will arrive 

 to assist her in the work of reproduction. In 

 theory, this sounds feasible ; but in practice, the 

 danger of being too late with the female, and 

 allowing her to deposit her ova, is ever present, 

 and hence, perhaps, the safest maxim is "Carpe 

 diem," and wire both male and female when you 

 have the chance. 



It is a good plan to have a few spare bam- 

 boos and wires about a fishery, kept in places 

 where the poachers cannot get at them. If, too, 

 one can once persuade one's friends to try 

 wiring on an occasional off day, when the fish 

 are not rising, it is wonderful how soon they take 

 to it, and get quite keen about it. I have 

 known cases where one's guests will prefer pike 

 wiring to trout fishing, especially in the bright, 

 hot days, when the trout are unapproachable, 



