128 HINTS ON ANGLING. 



much dearer we presume in England, if of a first-rate 

 quality the wages of the workman, and the profit of 

 the fishing-tackle seller such a line in London could not, 

 we apprehend, be procured under a much heavier sum. 

 This looks an awkward price for a fishing-line : but then, as 

 we said before, it will last my friend his life ; which, as 

 he is one of the best men in the world, will, I trust, be a 

 long and happy one. 



Silk is not good for a trolling-line, and silk and hair 

 is a villanous compound. There are other sorts kept by 

 the tackle-shops, but we have never tried them, and 

 therefore can give no opinion on their merits or demerits, 

 but we will back a hair line against them all at a 

 venture. 



The hook used in trolling is the common double hook 

 fixed on a brass wire shank, with a loop at the end to 

 receive the gimp bottom, which it is necessary should be 

 employed in this mode of fishing. This hook should not 

 be large. The wire shank must be loaded with lead, 

 about two inches in length from the very bottom of the 

 hook, tapering nicely up towards the other end. This 

 lead should be as large as it can be, to go easily into the 

 mouth and throat of the bait, because we are persuaded 

 that the bait generally sinks through the water too 

 slowly. Between the gimp bottom attached to the hook, 

 which should be moveable at pleasure, and the line, you 

 may insert a sort of gimp trace, furnished with three or 

 four swivels, which many trollers recommend, and which 

 the tackle-shops will supply you with; but we confess 

 we do not think the swivels possess the advantages attri- 

 buted to them. They very often break they do not 

 always work freely ; and they are liable to rust and to 

 corrode the gimp. We never fish with a swivel ourselves, 



