96 THE COMPLETE ANGLER 



And now I shall shew you how to bait your hook with 

 a worm, so as shall prevent you from much trouble, and 

 the loss of many a hook too, when you fish, for a trout with 

 a running-line,* that is to say, when you fish for him by 

 hand at the ground : I will direct you in this as plainly as 

 I can, that you may not mistake. 



Suppose it be a big lob-worm, put your hook into him 

 somewhat above the middle, and out again a little below 

 the middle ; having so done, draw your worm above the 

 arming of your hook : but note that at the entering of 

 your hook it must not be at the head-end of the worm, 

 but at the tail-end of him, that the point of your hook may 

 come out toward the head-end, and having drawn him 

 above the arming of your hook, then put the point of 

 your hook again into the very head of the worm, till it 

 come near to the place where the point of the hook first 

 came out ; and then draw back that part of the worm 

 that was above the shank or arming of your hook, and so 

 fish with it. And if you mean to fish with two worms, 

 then put the second on before you turn back the hook's 

 head of the first worm : you cannot lose above two or 

 three worms before you attain to what I direct you ; and 

 having attained it, you will find it very useful, and thank 

 me for it, for you will run on the ground without tangling. 



Now for the minnow or penk : he is not easily found 

 and caught till March, or in April, for then he appears first 

 in the river; nature having taught him to shelter and 



The running line, so called because it runs along the ground, is 

 made of strong silk, which you may buy at the fishing-tackle shops 

 (but I prefer hair, as being less apt to tangle), and is thus fitted up. 

 About ten inches from the end, fasten a small cleft shot : then make 

 a hole through a pistol or musket bullet, according to the swiftness 

 of the stream you fish in ; and put the line through it, and draw 

 the bullet down to the shot ; to the end of your line fasten an Indian 

 grass, or silkworm-gut, with a large hook. Or you may, instead of 

 a bullet, fix four large shot, at the distance of eight inches from the 

 hook. The running line is used for trout, grayling, and salmon- 

 smelts ; and is proper only for streams and rapid waters. See 

 Cotton on Bottom-fishing, part ii. chap. xi. H. 



