142 THE angler's guide. 



good Eel have had time to get away, for you should 

 know, they never cease trying, for ^^many hours after 

 they are hooked, to escape, which they frequently do 

 when hooked in the throat or mouth j for, hy their 

 continually twisting and struggling, they rip the hook 

 through the tender parts of the throat or mouth 3 

 but if they have it in their maw or stomach, and the 

 tackle be good, their most violent exertions will be 

 in vain. 



In large ditches and narrow streams, that have 

 communication with rivers, good Eels are often to 

 bo found 3 and if not broader than the Angler can 

 leap with the assistance of a leaping pole, and the 

 said ditch or stream is protected, the Angler should 

 lay bis line right across, fastening each end to stakes 

 on the opposite banks. 



Note. — In putting in those stakes, do not fix them 

 in a direct line, opposite each other, but a yard or 

 more (according to the number of hooks and length 

 (^f line you use) below, so that the line and hooks 

 may lay obliquely across the water, which allows 

 room for more baited hooks than if laid in a straight 

 line ; and also, I have found my baited hooks do more 

 execution, thus laid, for the Eels run more on the side 

 of sharp streams than in the middle. This way of 

 fastening lines to stakes should always be preferred, 

 where it can be done j or when laying at the end of 

 mill-tail streams, or in the shallow parts or pools of 

 water, formed from falls of water over precipices, 

 flood gates, &c. 3 in such places, with a boat, you can 



