i6o PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



the fact when carelessly withdrawing my hand from an exa- 

 mination of its contents. 



Before taking leave of live-baiting with the float it may be 

 mentioned that the best time for the use of the live bait is 

 generally (in rivers) after the water has cleared, or nearly so, 

 after the first winter's flood. This sweeps the fish into the 

 eddies and mouths of dykes, &c. ; spots in which the live bait 

 can be much better worked than in the open river. Indeed, 

 float fishing with the live bait where there is any considerable 

 current is almost useless. 



In winter the fish lie nearer the bottom than they do in 

 summer, and the bait at this time of year should not swim above 

 the bottom more than one third of the total depth. Never leave 

 the bait too long in one place but keep it moving either by the 

 force of the current or by the aid of the rod and the hand. 

 When it remains quiescent for a long time in the same spot it 

 is most probable that it has hooked a weed. 



By the way, weeds should always be carefully removed from 

 the bait ; notwithstanding his cosmopolitan voracity, and even 

 his alleged partiality for a pickerel weed, I have never, to my 

 knowledge, succeeded in inducing a pike to take a bait to which 

 I knew that any portion of weed was adhering. 



Keep the bait also as much as possible in the water and as 

 little as possible out of it. In the former case it is in the way 

 of killing pike and keeping itself alive ; in the latter the position 

 is reversed. To preserve its longevity as much as possible, as 

 well as to prevent the hook breaking through, cast it with a light 

 hand and not too far. 



Under the gerieral heading of ' Pike Baits ' mention has 

 been made of a recent idea of ' administering stimulants ' to 

 live dace and roach with a view to increasing their longevity 

 and activity. Mr. W. O. Chambers having lately ventilated 

 the subject in the columns of the Fishing Gazette, the following 

 account of some practical experiments in carrying the idea 

 into effect appeared in that paper : — 



