372 PICKEREL FISHING. 



the right hip, with the point inclined to the left; the bait 

 should hang at the end of some ten or fifteen yards of line, and 

 as many more should be drawn off the reel and held loosely in 

 the left hand, the right hand grasping the butt about a yard 

 above its extremity. 



The body should then be turned slowly to the left, and 

 brought round again, with a quick jerk, to its original position ; 

 the rod, as described before, will follow the same motion, and 

 deliver its bait with great velocity and accuracy, the left hand 

 playing out the line and checking its motion gently, so as to 

 drop the bait upon the surface almost without creating a ripple, 

 certainly without a splash. 



A little practice will soon enable the merest tyro to deliver a 

 dead bait on a leaded gorge into the circumference of his hat at 

 twenty-five or thirty yards; and let him remember, that the 

 longer his casts, the better and more like to kill. 



The bait, after being cast, should be drawn gently and 

 gradually home, the left hand constantly giving out and 

 retracting the line; which, with the aid of one or two swivels 

 above the gimp arming of the gorge-hook, will cause the fish to 

 spin and glance beautifullj' in the water, and will render it a 

 most attractive bait. 



Ilofland's instructions for striking and playing this fine fish 

 cannot be surpassed ; and paying due attention to the above, 

 and giving heed to his instructions, the young angler will 

 hardly fail of sport in any of the inland lakes or rivers of this 

 country from Maine to Lake Superior and La Belle Riviere, as 

 the French designate the Ohio, and from the Atlantic coasts to 

 the Arctic Circle. 



