chance is worth his while. Loch Awe, Loch Ericht, Loch
Rannoch, and Loch Assynt, are good lochs for trying one's luck in this
kind of fishing.

Then to come from the nobler to an inferior species, we get to PIKE
fishing. Angling for this fish seems to be in great repute among our
southern brethren, if we may judge by the literature on the subject; but
somehow or other it is looked upon among our northern anglers with
somewhat the same aversion that a Jew has to bacon, and fishing for pike
is only resorted to when all chance of catching anything worthier is
gone. We don't profess to say whence this antipathy arises; but we have
heard stories from boatmen about the foul feeding of pike that makes the
idea of eating him repulsive. Not but that we have eaten him, but we
never did so with relish, however cunningly the _artiste_ may have
served him up. As a stock for soup he is good; but in Scotland it is
better not to say what the origin of the stock is till your friends are
at their _cafe noir_. But here we are only interested so far as the
sport he gives is concerned; and unless the pike be all the larger--say
not under 8 lb.--the sport is poor enough. Even a pike of 8 lb. and
over, when hooked (which is done by trolling or casting a minnow and
working it after the manner of a fly), makes one or two long pulls, not
rushes like a fish of the _salmo_ tribe; and after that he subsides into
a sulk from which you must trust to the strength of your tackle to
arouse him. The tackle should be mounted on gimp, for his teeth are very
sharp; and when removing the lure from his mouth, you will find it much
safer to have previously put the foot-spar between his jaws to prevent
him getting at your fingers.

There is a fly, if such it can be called, used in pike-fishing. This fly
resembles a natural insect as much as a tea-pot resembles an elephant,
but it does attract pike--in the same way, we suppose, that a piece of
red flannel will attract a mackerel. If our readers wish to try it, they
can buy it at almost any tackle shop. Pike are to be found in almost all
lochs, though in the more frequented of our Scotch waters they are being
slowly but surely exterminated. In others, again, they reign almost
alone. But pike-fishing by itself is a poor affair, and we advise our
readers only to take to it when they can do nought better. If any of
them wish to go below the level of pike-fishing, we must refer them to
the copious instructions of ma