128 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 
under-parts of the fish, which is then drawn out. 
That natural poacher, the pike, is frequently 
ridded from trout-streams in this fashion. Of 
course, poaching with click-hooks requires to be 
done in the light, or by the aid of an artificial one. 
Lights attract salmon and trout just as they 
attract birds, and tar-brands are frequently used 
by poachers. Shooting is sometimes resorted to, 
but for this class of poaching the habits and 
beats of the water-bailiffs require to be accurately 
known. The method has the advantage of being 
quick ; and a gun in skilful hands, and at a short 
distance, may be used without injuring the fleshy 
parts of the body. That deadly bait, salmon-roe, 
is now rarely used, the method of preparing it 
having evidently died out with the old-fashioned 
poachers, who used it with such effect. 
The capture of either poachers or their nets 
is often difficult to accomplish. The former wind 
their sinuous way, snake-like, through the wet 
meadows in approaching the rivers, and their 
nets are rarely kept at home. These they secrete 
about farm buildings, in dry ditches, or among 
the bushes in close proximity to their poaching 
grounds. Were they kept at home, the obtaining 
of a search-warrant by the police or local angling 
association would always render their custody a 
critical one. They are sometimes kept in the 
