128 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



of the size of flight which will generally be found most 

 suitable for Trout on the Thames. It is also a very- 

 useful flight for Pike in hot summer weather when the 

 water is low and > bright. 



Directions for baiting are given in the chapter on 

 Pike-spinning. 



Unlike Jack, Trout af& very frequently in the habit of 

 "taking short," as the puntsmen phrase it — that is, 

 seizing the bait by the tail instead of by the head, or 

 from laziness or shyness making their dash a little 

 behind rather than before it. In order to meet this 

 peculiarity, and to render the killing powers of the 

 above flight as deadly in the case of Trout as they 

 are in that of Pike, I use for Trout-spinning an addi- 

 tional flying triangle, tied on a separate link of twisted 

 gut (see Engraving, fig. 2), which can at pleasure be 

 attached to or disengaged from the ordinary flight by 

 being passed over the tail-hook from the point. This 

 triangle flies loose from the bait in the position indicated 

 by the dotted outline A (fig. i), and will be found to act 

 as a powerful argument against any sudden change of 

 mind or loss of appetite on the part of a pursuing Trout. 

 The size of the hooks, length of gut, &c., drawn in the 

 engraving, are of the proper proportion for a flight of the 

 size shown. They should be enlarged or diminished pro- 

 portionably as flights of a larger or smaller size are used. 

 Elasticity, or it may be paradoxically described " stifl"- 

 ness," is absolutely essential to the proper action of this 



