RIG FOR BAIT-FISHING. 195 



from the middle to each end, as, sold by our fishing-tackle 

 men, is the best. The same may be said of the ordinary click 

 reel, though it were better did it multiply. " The casting- 

 line of silk -worm gut should be well tapered, and seven 

 lengths of long single gut, tinged rather than dyed with the 

 ordinary decoction of logwood and alum. The knots should 

 be tied with care, but not whipped with thread an operation 

 which should be confined solely to the upper joints of the 

 line. They ought to be of picked material, sound, clear, and 

 fine, without flaw or fretting." 



Hooks should be of finest steel, needle-pointed, and either 

 the common Aberdeen round bend, Hutchinson's round bend, 

 Sproat's bend, or the Kinsey bend, known as the Pennsylva- 

 nia trout-hook. " Before attaching the snell or gut, file and 

 break off from a quarter to half an inch of the shank, which 

 is usually too long." This I have found best with hooks for 

 small striped bass, which weigh each from half a pound to 

 three pounds. Tie on the hooks with red silk, well waxed. 

 "Some worm-fishers of celebrity adopt a small projection of 

 gut or bristle, as in the tackle used for the stone fly," etc. 



Sinkers should be made of split shot, from all sizes between 

 pigeon and buck shot, according to the tide or current, or 

 by winding sheet-lead round the line a foot or more above 

 the hook. The bait should play under water, be kept mov- 

 ing, and never allowed to sink to the bottom or float on the 

 surface ; and when the current is swift, shot should be dis- 

 tributed above the regular sinker on the casting-line. 



The best bait-anglers seldom use a float ; when they do it 

 is very small, only large enough to float the lightest sinker 

 that will f answer for the water. Casts shduld be regularly 

 made, and the bait kept moving as if it were a fly under wa- 

 ter ; or if in the current of a stream, should be made to move 

 with the current, as if there were no hook in it. The head 

 of the worm should be broken off, and the hook so baited 

 with the remainder as to leave an inch of the tail free to play 

 naturally. 



