THE YOUNG ANGLER. 271 



For trimmer fishing, a double hook tied to gimp must be fastened 

 to a line about fifteen or twenty yards in length, at about a foot 

 above the hook, a wine-bottle cork should be firmly fixed on the line, 

 and a bullet about two feet above the cork. When baiting your 

 hook suppose with a gudgeon take your baiting-needle and hook 

 it to the loop of the gimp on which the hook is fastened, thrust the 

 point of the needle under the skin of the fish near the backbone, 

 beginning about a quarter of an inch from the head, and pass it very 

 carefully along between the skin and the flesh until within an inch 

 of the tail, and then draw the needle and gimp out so that the hooks 

 may come to the place where the needle was inserted ; fasten off the 

 loop of the gimp to the line, 

 and the bait is then ready, as 

 shown in the illustration. If 

 the bait is put carefully on the 

 hook, it will live some hours in 

 the water. Select a place free 

 from weeds, hold the line in 

 your left hand, and a forked 

 stick in your right ; put the stick under the line just above the 

 bullet, and by giving it a jerk you may throw the bait into any part 

 of the river you please ; then fasten the line either to a peg stuck 

 firmly on the ground, or to a bank runner which last is decidedly 

 the best plan, as it prevents the string from entangling a disaster 

 that frequently occurs in the ordinary method. The night lines must 

 be of strong small cord, about ten yards in length, and the baits 

 small dead roach, gudgeon, or dace; some anglers, however, use 

 worms and frogs. If you employ- a fish, you must put it on a 

 double hook, such as are sold at the shops, tied to gimp, wire, &c., 

 and called eel hooks, in the manner described for trolling for pike ; 

 then put the hook on the line, and about two feet above the hook a 

 bullet, which serves to steady both line and hook. The line should 

 then be cast into the stream, and be securely fastened to a peg 

 driven into the bank. Sometimes a number of these lines are fast- 

 ened to a stout cord about two feet apart from each other, which 

 forms what is termed a chain line ; then a brick is affixed to one end 

 of it, while the other is tied to the peg as before described, when the 

 line is thrown all its length into the river and left there all night; 

 other fish are often found on these night-lines. 



As we have before remarked, salmon-fishing requires too much 

 skill for boys, so does parr, common trout, lake trout, char, and 

 grayling-fishing, and as these are neither common fishes, nor found 

 in our common rivers, but some in Scotland, some in the Lake dis- 

 trict, and others in out-of-the-way places, we must refer our young 

 readers to Mr. Blakey's work on Angling, published at the low price 

 of one shilling ; or if all that can possibly be known is sought for, to 

 that admirable work by Stonehenge, entitled, the ''Manual of 

 British Rui-al Sports," where everything appertaining to fishing, 

 racing, hunting, shooting, coursing, boating, &c. &c., may be found. 



