138 SINKING THE LIVE BAIT. 



good notion of the average depth, and you must 

 put on a heavy float accordingly. If you fish 

 with a live minnow, the float need not be heavy ; 

 but if you angle with a large gudgeon, &c., your 

 float must be sufficiently large to prevent either 

 your gudgeon, dace, or roach from lugging it 

 beneath the surface of the water. The float is 

 chiefly used to prevent whatever live-bait you 

 may use from sinking deeper than you deem ad- 

 visable, but neither it, nor the lead on the line, 

 should be so heavy as to hinder your bait from 

 swimming horizontally on any side. You lead your 

 line also, but for a different object viz., to keep 

 down your bait, and to prevent it from swimming 

 up to the surface of the water. Generally speak- 

 ing, you so place your float on the foot-line that 

 the length of the latter on the hook side will equal 

 half the depth of the water you are fishing in. 

 Observe this ratio in somewhat shallow waters 

 three feet deep, a foot more or less. In deep 

 waters, where the largest fish roam, you must 

 sink your bait more deeply, about two-thirds or 

 more of the whole depth. 



You must angle with strong, lively baits, and 

 put them on your hooks with as little injury to 

 them as possible, that they may swim about ac- 

 tively and for a long time, and appear unlike 

 captives to the fish you wish them to captivate. 

 Generally speaking, you will find a single hook 



