THE GORGE-HOOK. 



149 



the left hand, a certain portion at each draw, you 

 cause your bait to troll, generally towards you, 

 beneath the water. The rolling or rotatory mo- 

 tion of your bait in the water attracts fish to it ; 

 they run at it, swallow or gorge it, and then you 

 strike, play, and kill them. Quite the contrary, 

 however, may happen, to your great annoyance. 

 Since it is by trolling with the gorge-hook that 

 the largest pike are killed, I must be methodical 

 and minute on the subject. Underneath is the 

 figure of the common gorge-hook, and above it 

 is a hook baited, both taken from Elaine's great 

 Sporting Encyclopaedia : 



Generally the hook is formed of two single eel- 

 hooks, placed back to back, and joined together 

 with a continuation from their shanks of a piece 

 of twisted wire, looped at the end. The shanks 

 of the hooks, and a portion of the wire, are im- 

 bedded in a piece of lead rounded thickly at the 

 shoulder, and tapering off towards the tail. Some 

 persons make the lead of an octagonal or quadran- 



