CH. I.] AS TO BAITING GIMP. 13 



fact it should be less and less crooked in propor- 

 tion to its size. If a bait will not spin well, or 

 " wabbles," two to one it is too much crooked. A 

 double crook or bend in a bait is also absolutely 

 fatal to its spinning properly. 



A Bleak should be put on so as to form one 

 continuous curve from head to tail. In all others 

 the tail alone should be curved, and the rest of 

 the body left perfectly straight. This is the the- 

 ory of Edward Andrews, a fisherman at Maiden- 

 head, who is certainly the greatest "artiste" in 

 putting on a bait that I ever saw. 



Further written instructions on the subject I 

 will not attempt, for the most elaborate would fail 

 to teach the knack of putting on a bait properly, 

 it being one which can be acquired only by prac- 

 tice, and which, perhaps as much as any connected 

 with the gentle art, requires nicety and judgment 

 in its execution. 



When fishing water which contains Jack as 

 well as Trout, you should always have by you a 

 few flights of somewhat larger hooks tied on gimp. 

 It is not at all an unfrequent occurrence to lose 

 a set of gut tackle to a Jack, and to recover it by 

 catching him next throw with a gimp set. Indeed, 

 if the gimp be fine, I have generally found that 



