roller of olden times was at any rate always moving, and finer
exercise for a winter day than trolling four or five miles of river
could not be prescribed. But the gorge hook has gone out of fashion
and is discountenanced.

Spinning is for pike what the artificial fly is for salmon, the most
scientific method, and followed perseveringly it is downright hard
work, bringing, as the use of the salmon rod does, all the muscles of
the body into play. The degree of exercise depends upon the style
adopted. Casting direct from the Nottingham winch is less trying than
the ordinary and more familiar custom of working the incoming line
dropped upon the grass or floor of the boat, or gathered in the left
hand in coils after the manner of Thames fishermen. Few anglers are
masters of the Nottingham style, which has many distinct
recommendations, such as freedom from the entanglements of undergrowth
and rough ground.

The recovery of the spinning bait by regular revolutions of the winch
is not always a gain, since, with all his shark-like voracity, the pike
has his little caprices, and sometimes suspects the lure which is
moving evenly on a straight course through the water. The bait spun
home by the left hand manipulating the line while the right gives the
proper motion to the rod top is considered best for pike if not for
salmon. One of the good points about spinning for pike is that it is a
recreative exercise to be followed after the fly-rod is laid by after
autumn. November, December, and January are indeed the months to be
preferred before all the rest, and when pike fall out of season the
salmon and trout rivers are open again.

Trout fishing is the sport of the many amongst fly-fishermen, and the
exercise required in the methods which are recognised as quite orthodox
is probably the happy medium, yielding pleasure with the least penalty
of toil. The members of the most recent school of trout fishers are
believers in the floating fly, but it is wrong to assume that there is
any burning question in the matter. The best angler is the man who is
master of all the legitimate devices for beguiling fish into his
landing net, and I am not now concerned with any controversial aspects
of the dry-fly question. The spectacle of an angler upon a chalk
stream, where this style is to all intents and purposes Hobson's
choice, is not at all suggestive of bodily activity should he happen to
be "waiting for a rise." The trout will