198 BAITING WITH TWO GENTLES. 



the tail. Insert the point of the hook near the 

 tail of the second gentle, and push it up the hook 

 to meet the tail of the other. The hook should 

 be inserted as close inside the skins of the gentles 

 as possible. The point of the hook is to meet the 

 skin of the second gentle close inside its head. 

 Gentle hooks should be made of very fine wire, 

 sharply pointed and sneck-bent. 



Towards the middle of the day, when fish are 

 rising at insects on the surface of the water, a 

 gentle placed on the point and bend of a hook on 

 which a red-winged artificial fly is dressed, will be 

 found a killing bait, especially for chub, dace, and 

 roach. The straw-bait used in the same way will 

 kill trout and grayling well. Mr. Elaine observes : 

 ( The angler will sometimes find, while he is 

 roach and dace fishing, that as the day advances 

 towards its meridian, the roach and dace he may 

 have been hitherto taking with success will gra- 

 dually leave off biting, and from the bottom will 

 show; themselves above, the dace at mid-water, 

 and the roach but a little below the surface. This 

 circumstance will afford him an amusing oppor- 

 tunity of varying his practice by mounting on a 

 gentle-hook, No. 8 or 9, a pair of wings. A very 

 slight ginger hackle -feather is the best for the 

 purpose. After it is on, cover the remainder of 

 the hook with a tough, well-scoured gentle. 

 Whip with this, but not violently, and the dace 



