SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 403 



prawn In big rivers, where wading is impossible, it must be 

 done out of a boat either by casting or trailing. At Castle 

 Connell on the Shannon they spin it ; at Galway, where during 

 the spring months nothing else is used but the prawn from 

 9 A.M. to 6 P.M., they let it drag with a heavy weight on the 

 bottom as they would do when worm fishing. At Killaloe on 

 the Shannon I have caught several fish by working the prawn 

 " sink-and-draw " fashion, as if I were fishing with a gorge hook 

 for pike. There was, opposite the marble works, a large pool 

 with a very strong backwater, which always held a number of 

 salmon, and part of the programme when fishing the pool was 

 to use the prawn in this backwater in the sink-and-draw fashion. 

 I seldom tried it without catching a fish. This is the only 

 place I ever saw it tried, but I have no doubt it would be 

 equally successful elsewhere. 



1 The pleasantest way, however, to work the prawn is from 

 the bank, or when wading, on a warm day when there are 

 plenty of fish within easy reach. It is to me the most fasci- 

 nating of all bait fishing, but it does not give me the same 

 amount of pleasure or excitement that fly fishing does. The 

 mode of proceeding is as follows : Reel up your line to within 

 about six feet of the top of your rod ; swing (not cast) it out at 

 an angle of about 45 down stream, and let the prawn come 

 slowly round to the side you are fishing from, keeping your rod 

 in the same position. If the stream is rapid let out a yard or 

 two of line by degrees as the bait works round, which will 

 prevent the action of the stream stripping off the scales of the 

 prawn ; and for the same reason wind up slowly before making 

 a fresh cast. When the stream is very slack it will, on the 

 contrary, be as well to gradually wind in a few yards of line to 

 prevent the prawn catching on the bottom. 1 



1 On the Erne and some other rivers the use of a float has of recent years 

 been adopted for prawn-fishing, and when last on the Erne the present season, 

 1889 1 was assured that this plan has practically superseded all other methods. 

 A largish float, shotted gut-line, arranged so as to swim the bait close to the 

 oottom, and a prawn baited according to the taste of the fisher, form the 

 tackle. H. C.-P, 



