12 SWIVELS FLIGHTS OF HOOKS BAITING. [PART I. 



passed through it. The number of swivels used 

 will thus amount to six. A smaller number will 

 doubtless often answer the purpose, but that I 

 have mentioned will ensure the bait spinning well, 

 if properly put on, and save your gut from be- 

 coming at all twisted. In trailing, when the bait 

 is kept spinning a long while continuously, and 

 the line is not, by being frequently taken out of 

 the water, (as in the ordinary mode of spinning,) 

 relieved from any undue twist to which it may be 

 subjected, it is almost essential to have as many. 



As to flights of hooks, I am content with four, 

 or three, trebles (according to the size of the bait), 

 and a lip-hook, which latter should be tied upon a 

 minute loop, so small as only just to enable it to 

 run up and down the gut. In baiting, it is kept in 

 its place by taking a couple of turns round it with 

 the gut. A single hook, reversed, just below the 

 penultimate treble, tends to keep the tail of the 

 bait in its place. A large bait should always be 

 secured to the hooks by a piece of thread tied 

 round it, just behind, or over, the dorsal fin; 

 otherwise it will soon be dragged from them by 

 its own weight. 



A very slight crook in the tail is sufficient to 

 make a bait spin well, especially a large one. In 



