The Pike Fisher's Day.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 30 January 1911, Page 4

The Pike Fisher's Day.

(From a correspondent of the London Times.) The first- frosts of autumn, which ■have in ken toll of the tree leaves, have laid a. light hand on the leaves, of tho river. The river itself, quickened into life once more, flows with fresher stream, which brings new vigour to the languid pike. Under the hot suns of .July and August he lias lurked iu some sluggish deep or basked listlessly in the warm sltailows. But now he will betake himself to his winter haunts, eager to plunge once more into the wild joys, ,Imli' forgotten, of his rapacious life; and the- pikelisher's hour has come. And once more, to the mind's eye, the old picture rises. The mist on copse and meadow, which yields hut sullenly to the autumn -sun, the river strong and clear, butt flecked just .here and there with a scattered handful of whirling leaves, and the whole ringed round with the mellow woodland for a frame. The old picture and its setting are unchanged. Fifty years have not altered them save in one respect—the pikefisher: for the pikefisher of those days has gone. A hundred yards above us the weir rolls out its tumbling waves in noisy confusion; 'but here its turmoil :has sobered down into the steady stream of the deeper channel. Let the bait fall as deftly as may he just outside the reed bed which fringes the opposite bank. The glittering morsel spins clean and true, and a quick catch in midstream shows that you have moved something, bu|fc the bait emerges intact. Even the best of us ait times shoot behind a rabbit, and the pike is often guilty of a like miscalculation. He has missed the bait, but touched the Hying triangle beyond its tail. A trout would be warned off by this rough contact with reality, hut the reckless pike is not so easily dismayed. Anyhow it is wonfch another cast. And this time, as the hait .spins home across the stream, it is caught by a hidden eddy and flickers for a moment in its course. There is a .sudden flash of green and -white under tho wator, and a tearing jerk that tells you that you are fast in your fish. Lower down, the stream .grows sluggish, sidling its laxy way through rush and weed. Spinning would be hopeless hero, and the gorge hait is our only chance. The pike has an exceptionally large brain; but he can harcTl.v use it to much purpose, or he would surely conclude that a gudgeon which traverses the water tail first in irregular zigzags is too eccentric a fisli to be trusted. These oddities, however, do neffc appear to trouble him. A gudgeon is a gudgeon. As to its mode of progression that is its own affair. Anyhow. he will often take the gurge freely. The. WAVIXG CLUMP OF REEDS has yielded nothing, and the monster who assuredly lurks somewhere within that rushy ha.v is not to lie tempted. But there is. an alluring hole where the water eddies gently behind a projecting aider stump in which something should lie found. The bait- shoots downward, twisting and gliding, till it is lost in the dark depths. As it is drawn up again there is a sharp check. Down with the rod point and ou'fc with the line! Nothing stirs, however, and it may be only a false alarm. Pause for a moment, and then cautiously tighten the line till it is just taut. An angry shake announces that it is no weed that holds the bait, and everything promises to go well in the best of all possible worlds. Possess your soul, then, in patience for the appointed time, and in no undue confidence, for the event is uncertain. ft may lie that vour strike will be answered by the fierce wrench which betokens a fish who will die hard and weigh heavy. On the other hand—such are the sorrowful chances which a waits the t roller—(the bait alone may come back to you through the water. The pike has dropped it and left it 011 the river bed for you to nurse through five minutes of fruitless expectation. Sir Gervase Markham. writing in praise of fishting in 1035, observes that, while in. other pastimes ill success causes the sportsman to "fall into curses, oathes, and furies, such as would make Yertue tremble with the imagination," nothing of tilie sort ever occurs in fishing. Perhaps they managed Uhese things better in 1035; perhaps Sir Gervase never hapened to try trolling with the gorge. t _ Pike-fishing has also its more reposeful modes—the trailing spoon, the paternoster, and the float-. A word as to the best of these. "Where the water is ■ quiet and clear of weed LIVE BAIT fishing is often successful, and is not unduly exacting. Moreover, the pike's attack on these occasions is rather impressive. The floatbobs about gently hither-and thither under the movements of the live bait, and the situation may even be growing a little somnolent. All at onco, without the smallest warning, the float is suddenly torn down through the water with the rush of the pike on his prey, glimmering like some wan eye as it disappears in. the depths. Yet one other device for the capture of the pike may. perhaps, be glanced at. It is not cool autumn, or chill winter, but glowing June, and the epicure trout of the Hampshire chalk streams are beginning to rise .steadily to the ginger quill. A past master in tho art of the dry fly has justed worked (himself into a convenient position for dealing with a feeding "Why does he pause, wade back to sihore, lay down his rod, and catch up that pole with A RUXNTXG NOOSE of wire at the end, which seems lie suspiciously handy? Again he enters the water, and edges carefully across to where a ithin green shadow shows like a faint stain upon tho light sand of the river bed. And here let us draw the veil. Suffice is to say .that an enterprising young jack will speedily pay 'the penalty for venturing into society above his station. And what should, be the last end of our fish? Stuff him like veal nnd roast him like a leg of mutlton is tho popular recipe, and 'twill serve well enough. Yet, if he he not unduly large, let him pass away rather in a savoury fry, amid eggs and butter, and with an oatmeal shroud. WO' I HllilllM—lMWl