BAIT-FISHING. 421 



advantage, and a considerable increase to the interest of 

 the sport. The principle consists in yielding to him for a 

 time, by letting out the line as far as is prudent, and the 

 absence of weeds, &c., will allow ; and when otherwise, 

 making the elastic power of the rod withstand his progress 

 by advancing the butt. In this way he will at last be 

 tired out, and may then be landed with safety by means 

 of the landing-net. 



The snap-bait is employed only when the fish are wary 

 and inclined to eject the ordinary kind, and it is used as 

 follows : I have already (on pages 417-18) described the 

 mode of arming the hook with the bait, and also the pecu- 

 liarly short and stiff top to the rod which is required. 

 This last is necessary in order to give increased quickness 

 to the stroke. The chief difference in this mode from 

 that last described consists in the striking, which should 

 be done the moment the pickerel seizes the bait, when, if 

 successful, he may be landed or played according to circum- 

 stances, as before described, or if not too large, pulled out 

 at once over the shoulder. Trolling, however, by means 

 of the gorge-hook, is the most common mode of taking 

 pickerel, and is also the most sportsmanlike, inasmuch as it 

 is deprived of the stain of cruelty which attends upon live- 

 bait fishing. It requires, as I have already observed, the 

 full-sized trolling-rod, with long and strong line, a good- 

 sized reel, free from multipliers, and all the apparatus 

 peculiar to the gorge-hook viz., cork-float, swivel-traces, 

 gorge-hooks, and bait. When these are all artistically 

 adjusted, the bait must be manoeuvred in the manner 

 already described for perch, and it will generally be 



