r GORGE-HOOKS FOR WEEDS. ETC. 151 



lead, are very fit for trolling amongst weeds, and 

 in foul places; but they do not act so well in 

 wide, clean waters, as they have not that necessary 

 stiff and firm hold on the bait, which prevents it 

 from being disfigured by crumpling up in the 

 cast. For ponds and lakes the long-wired gorge- 

 hooks are the best. 



Neither barb of the gorge-hook should project 

 too widely from the sides of the mouth of the 

 bait. If the points of the hook do project too 

 widely, the fish may perceive them ; if not, at all 

 events they will be likely to get foul of obstruc- 

 tions in the water. Nobbs, the father of trolling, 

 remarks: 4 I commonly make use of a single 

 gorge-hook, which strikes as sure as the other. 

 The double hook hath one advantage above the 

 other, that if it meets with such resistance in the 

 water that it loses one side of it, the other part, 

 with a little filing, may be still as serviceable as 

 it was before ; it is more troublesome than the 

 single hook in the water, and more apt to stick 

 and take hold of the weeds and roots ; it is best 

 for a great bait, for if you put a small and slender 

 bait on a double hook, it will hang out and bear 

 off so much in the bending, that a pike may not 

 only discover the delusion, but if he takes it, it 

 may check him in his feeding, and so hinder him 

 from gorging it.' Mr. Elaine says : ' Some 

 anglers sew up the mouth of the bait after they 



