172 COLONEL HAWKER'S TACKLE DESCRIBED. 



read of, or heard of, had no chance whatever. 

 The great advantage of it is, that it takes the 

 trout, when they run and bite short, by means 

 of fly-hooks that play round the other on a sepa- 

 rate branch of line ; so that I have often killed 

 three or four brace of trout without the minnow 

 being in the least injured, or even touched by the 

 fish. To describe the tackle properly, without 

 giving a plate of it, would be difficult if not 

 impossible.' The cut in the preceding page must 

 be examined by placing it horizontally before you. 

 Colonel Hawker describes this tackle thus : 

 'A large minnow trolling-hook, size No. 1, is 

 whipped to the shortest link of gut, and to the 

 other a triangle of three No. 7 hooks,* which are to 

 hang about two inches below the larger one. These 

 links altogether form a harness, which is to be at- 

 tached to the line with a small box-swivel between 

 them. The perforated snout-lead is, however, first 

 put on. Having selected a white-bellied minnow, 

 of rather small size, and hardening it in bran for 



* These hooks hang too low in the cut. The double hook 

 should be where the single one is, and the latter should be 

 about half an inch nearer to the tail of the bait. It is too 

 much the fashion with tackle-makers to tie the fly-hooks at 

 a long distance from the tail of the bait, whether natural 

 or artificial ; and the consequence is, that these fly-hooks 

 double back in casting, and get entangled in the hooks in- 

 serted in or lying outside the body of the bait. 



