l6 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



CHAPTER II. 



SPINNING TACKLE : FLIGHTS, LEADS, AND SWIVELS. 



Flights — Drawbacks to spinning : loss of fish ; causes of losses ; old- 

 fashioned flights, flying triangles, new flights. Kinking — Causes of 

 kinking, defective leads ; the remedy, improved leads. Sivi've/s^- 

 Number, arrangement ; double swivels, * loop swivels.' 



In spinning, both for Pike, and for lake or Thames 

 Trout, two great drawbacks were formerly experienced : 

 one the large proportion of fish lost after being struck ; 

 and another the " kinking," or crinkling of the line, to 

 which both sport and temper were not infrequently sacri- 

 ficed. The average of fish lost after being struck with 

 the old-fashioned tackle was computed at from fifty to 

 sixty per cent, — an estimate which has been generally 

 admitted to be under rather than over the mark. 



Flights. 

 The above result was attributable mainly to the large 

 number of hooks and triangles — the latter ranging from 

 three to five — formerly employed on a good-sized flight. 

 These were not only useless, but distinctly mischievous, 

 both as regards the spinning of the bait and the basket- 

 ing of the fish when hooked. Upon the bait they acted 



