70 



to those waters where jacks reach to a middling growth; 

 cay from four to ten pounds weight. 



Live laits may be used without floats ; but it requires 

 great skill and patience in this mode. The ordinary way 

 is, to pass the hook through the lip, or the back fin of 

 the bait, and to have such a float, either a cork one, or 

 a bladder, as may suffice to keep it from going beyond 

 a certain depth, as well as to indicate when a fish has 

 taken it. 



As a large bait is veiy alluring, to a jack especially, the 

 float for this purpose should be about eight inches in 

 length, covered almost its whole length with cork, so as 

 to make up a diameter of about an inch and an half: at 

 about six inches from the bait, there should be one or 

 two shots on your line, to keep the fish from rising. 



For perch, trout, or eels, a good stout piece of gut, or 

 of weed, will answer j but for jacks, you must have 

 gimp j else they will bite off your hook with the utmost 

 ease. 



The gimp is made of a silk line, on which wire is 

 wound very tight : this resists the bite of the jack effec- 

 tually, and is surprisingly strong. Unless you fish 

 expressly for jacks, your gimp should be of the 

 smallest size, or the perch will not take your bait so 

 readily. 



It is very rare to find trouts take a live bait well ; they 

 do in some waters, but then you cannot use gimp. For 

 eels, you should have tolerably stout gimp ; for they 

 sometimes run very large, often weighing from two to 

 five pounds j and, as they are extremely powerful in the 

 water, and writhe about the line in many folds, care 



must 



