PIKE-FISHING. 175 



■with a brighter bait, and should he still refuse thinks no more 

 ■of the matter. 



There are a few primary conditions which may be insisted 

 upon in pike-fishing at all times, and more particularly as 

 regards trolling. The tail of the bait should always be 

 closely tied and the protruding spines cleanly cut off. A 

 slovenly angler loses half the batde. The veteran jack-fisher 

 whose pupil I was proud to be, and who has sworn by 

 trolling as against spinning for half a century with unfailing 

 success, would never fix loop to swivel until the gills as well 

 as the tail were neatly tied under the shanks of the hook, 

 and certainly if the slight amount of extra trouble this gives 

 •does little good, it can do no harm. But I have met with 

 several instances where, for want of this little nail, the shoe 

 has been lost. 



Again, never treat the pike family as if they were arrant 

 fools. We take it too much for granted that anything will 

 do for pike and perch. Thus it is amazing to behold the 

 -clumsy gimp and massive tackle used, fair weather and foul, 

 by men whom you would reasonably expect to have more 

 ■discretion. In clouded water use anything that comes upper- 

 most, but under unfavourable circumstances as much care 

 should be taken as with the more wary tribes of fish. Walk 

 along close to the edge of a pike water and see how at your 

 approach the fish rush away. Instead of assuming that the 

 pike fears and cares for nothing, act always as if he were as 

 shy as a carp, and you lose nothing, while the certainty is 

 that you will be a frequent gainer. 



To keep as far from the water as possible, at first at any 

 rate, is a precaution I would recommend to every one. 

 Eegin with a cast that is really no cast at all ; that is to say. 



