ANGLING ON THE BORDERS. 39 



be got too small. Of course, the tackle must be adapted 

 to the size of the minnow. English anglers and tackle- 

 makers have sought out many inventions in the way 

 of artificial minnows and complicated minnow-tackle ; 

 but if the suffrages of Tweedside Gnostics were taken, 

 glass, brass, or gutta-percha imitations would be no- 

 where, and a plain running-tackle made of two hooks 

 would head the poll. The lower hook should be large 

 enough to impale almost the whole body of the min- 

 now, being entered at the shoulder, and brought out at 

 the tail, the shape of the bait assuming the curve of 

 the hook, while the upper hook ought to be smaller, 

 and to be passed through both jaws. Any slight dis- 

 crepancy in the size of minnows is obviated by a turn 

 or two of the gut between the hooks round the bend 

 of the upper one. Some anglers use, and Stewart 

 recommends, a drag made of two hooks tied back-to- 

 back at the end of about four inches of gut, and 

 hung on by a loop to the upper hook of the tackle. 

 This is intended to catch, by the outside of the body, 

 trouts which have risen to, and have missed being 

 caught by, the minnow. Minnow-fishing, as much as 

 any other branch of the art, requires to be practised 

 with skill and dexterity, and when so managed large 

 trouts are the result. The line ought to be leaded, 

 and streams ought most to engage the angler's atten- 

 tion — although here, too, he should diligently search 

 out the likely places for large fish. He ought not to 

 indulge in indiscriminate spinning over every kind of 

 water, as that is mere waste of time ; but in all cases 

 he ought carefully to work his minnow to the very side, 

 before lifting it out for a new cast, as trout often follow 



