36o THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



in season and out of season, the necessity of killing- 

 down pike by every available means and on every 

 available day during the year. 



When the enthusiastic dry-fly man has hardened his 



heart to agree to pay the exor- 



General considerations bitant rent asked, and has thus 



on the pike question, managed to get a lease of a 



length of a good chalk-stream, 

 his first step generally is to find a keeper and install 

 him as soon as possible after he gets possession of 

 the fishery. If he is well advised he will then proceed 

 to make a careful and exhaustive survey with the view 

 of ascertaining the capabilities of the water he has 

 taken, and he should begin without delay the work of 

 trying to exterminate the ubiquitous pike. At first he 

 will probably be surprised at the number killed, and 

 very likely he will soon get keen himself on wiring 

 them or spinning for them. 



At this stage his keeper, if one of the right sort, 

 will be as keen as he is himself, and during the second 

 season the bag of trout will probably show a better 

 result than that of the previous year, and the number 

 and usually the average size of the pike will show a 

 marked decrease. This is the critical time. If he or 

 his keeper gets slack in the work those that escape the 

 nets, wire, baits, etc., will increase in weight only too 

 rapidly, and the little pikelets which are always present 

 will grow to such dimensions as to be able to levy a 

 heavy toll on the trout fry, yearlings and even larger 

 fish in the stream. 



