180 UTILITY OF THE WINCH. 



hair ; but gut is better, and can be had fully as 

 fine. All foot-lines should be of the colour of 

 the water, sometimes of a sandy hue for angling 

 after a flood, but generally speaking a very light, 

 transparent green is the best. They should be 

 attached to good, prepared platted reel-lines, and 

 should be knotted and leaded as neatly as possible 

 to avoid catching in weeds or straws that may be 

 swimming down with the current. Grains of shot 

 of different sizes are commonly used for leading 

 lines. I prefer thin strips of sheet-lead beaten 

 to the thinness of writing-paper. You can wind 

 these thin, narrow bits of lead neatly round one 

 or two of the last links of your foot-line, just 

 above the knots or joinings, and it will be far less 

 clumsy and less likely to entangle than when 

 weighted with several shots. You can put on or 

 take off the slips of lead more promptly and easily 

 than shot, and you can carry them more conve- 

 niently. Always use a. winch in bottom-fishing. 

 It will prevent unequal strain upon your rod, 

 enable you to play a fish properly, and you can 

 shorten or lengthen your line with it according to 

 your judgment with facility. It will enable you, 

 besides, to angle with the shortest and finest foot- 

 line possible. 



Hooks for bottom-fishing with worms should be 

 long in the shank and perfectly round in the bend, 

 with the barb and point not inclining inwards. 



