130 



THE PIKE, SC. 



of a jack, has often forced the bait from the nook; to prevent 

 which, a thread has been carried round the point of the hook 

 on one side, and being passed under the belly, has been fas- 

 tened to the shank of the other side; but this deforms the 

 fish, and injures its vitality, it is therefore not an eligible 

 practice : its object may be obtained in a more effectual 

 manner, thus : instead of one, make use of two strong but 

 small hooks, No. 3, 4 or 5, according to the size of the bait ; 

 hang each of these to a small piece of strong gut, of three 

 inches in length, and loop each end. Introduce each of these 

 hooks a very little removed from each other, under the dor- 

 sal fin, one on one side, and the other on the other side; this 

 done, if they are critically placed, these two loops will meet 

 so exactly as to be received into the loop of the trace-lines, 

 without dragging one side more than the other. This me- 

 thod, we can venture to promise, will prevent the escape of 

 the bait, and is, as we believe, much more effective in taking 

 the prey also. 



" The Snap-Bait variety is seldom chosen in pike-fishing 

 by preference, but is rather forced on the fisher, in the spring 

 and summer months, when the pike and jack are not much 

 on the alert in taking baits. On the contrary, if one of them 

 does seize a bait at these times, he is apt to pouch or gorge 

 it, but after roving about with it in his mouth for some 

 time, he ejects, or blows it out, as Anglers term it. Snap- 

 fishing, we may add, intermixes itself with live-bait fishing, 

 and with trolling also ; or rather, on some occasions we add 

 a snap mode of striking the pike to the other methods ; we 

 have therefore a live-snap and a dead-snap, and now and then 

 snap-hooks are likewise added to a gorge-hook in trolling, and 

 that with perfect success. In all cases, therefore, if the bait- 

 hooks are such as can be depended on, and the rod be suffi- 

 ciently strong, the methods already described, and such as 

 are to follow, may be inude snap-fishing, by simply striking 



