io8 



MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



of Angling* burst upon the world since all the foregoing 

 works appeared, of course hits upon a combination the 

 very worst possible, and one which would be tolerably 

 certain to lose three out of every four fish run — i.e., one 

 small hook, extra fine in the wire! The ' member for 

 Finsbury,' as this author, with the detestable slang 

 which some modern writers appear to think funny, calls 

 the Trout, would certainly let Mr. Moffat into at least 

 one angling secret with which he is at present unac- 

 quainted, if he were to appear on the banks of the 

 Tweed, or the Spean, armed with such an apparatus. 



*' It will thus be seen that a ' single hook ' for Trout 

 worm-fishing has been hitherto universally recom- 

 mended by angling authorities, with, as 

 I before stated, a solitary exception, 

 and that is Mr. Stewart, who, in his 

 * Practical Angler,' boldly deviates from 

 the beaten track, and gives a diagram 

 (of which, for the sake of clearness, a 

 facsimile is appended) of a tackle com- 

 posed oi four small hooks, in lieu of the 

 conventional single large one. I give 

 Mr. Stewart the greatest credit for the 

 originality of this idea, which belongs to 

 him alone ; at the same time, I am not 

 surprised at its proving, as he himself 

 admits, only a modified success. Mr. 

 Stewart says that with this tackle he 

 found he could kill larger fish, but 

 fewer in number, than with the single hook, and that 

 this experience was confirmed by others. He attri- 

 butes, and I have no doubt correctly, the diminution in 



4-hook Tackle 

 (Baited). 



