436 MODERN SEA FISHING 



may be so soft and yielding that the fish's teeth get buried 

 without severing it. The hard or protected snooding may con- 

 sist of stout gimp, or a piece of ordinary hemp snooding bound 

 round with copper wire, which is, after all, little less than home- 

 made gimp. The soft snoodings are made of a number of very 

 fine strands of soft hemp, all tied on to the hook and knotted 

 together at short intervals, or loosely plaited in the manner 

 illustrated on pp. 74 and 274. 



Another conger snooding which is used by professional 

 fishermen is made in the following way : Take a piece of 

 ordinary fishing line as strong as may be required. This 

 may seem rather indefinite ; but what is meant is that the 

 strength must depend upon the size of the conger expected. 

 For fishing in twenty or thirty fathoms of water at night, over a 

 place known to contain a number of very large conger, strong 

 lines must be used ; but if we are fishing close inshore where 

 the fish only run up to as much as 14 Ibs. or 15 Ibs., the majority 

 varying from 2 Ibs. to 5 Ibs., the line may be comparatively fine. 

 In any case the snood should be finer than the line above it. 

 Having decided on the right size for this piece of snooding, 

 which may be about three feet in length, untwist an inch and a 

 half of the end and whip it on the shank of the hook very 

 strongly with well-waxed hemp twine. Then, straining it 

 tight, plait over it (starting at the hook end) strands of green 

 hemp which may be obtained at the ropemaker's. The ends 

 of the green hemp can easily be pushed under the strands of 

 the snooding when a couple of feet have been covered in this 

 manner. 



Amateurs rather favour good new gimp, which is fairly 

 flexible, for conger snoods, but it must be liberally supplied 

 with swivels, and even then I hear that it often comes to grief. 

 The best way of attaching it, is to use a hook with a large 

 turned-down eye. Insert the gimp through the eye, unravel 



