426 MANUAL FOB YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



the great bulk of the eels caught in this country are taken 

 in traps set in the weirs of the rivers, when they run in 

 the floods which are so constantly occurring. 



The best baits for eels are either live fish or lob- 

 worms. Dead bait are not so readily taken, as there is no 

 means during the night of simulating the motions of the 

 living fish, as can be done with perch, trout, and pickerel, 

 which take their food by day. Lob-worms, therefore, as 

 being the most readily procured, and remaining alive on 

 the hook for a considerable time, are the most common 

 bait. The lainpern is used in those rivers where it is met 

 with, and is a very deadly bait. It requires care in its 

 application not to injure the nine-eyes or gills, for if they 

 are destroyed, the fish soon dies, and lies motionless and 

 unattractive. The hook, therefore, should be entered 

 below them, leaving the head and these openings hanging 

 free. It is too large a bait for any but full-sized eels, as 

 the small ones pull off the pendant portions without hook- 

 ing themselves. 



Eels may be taken during the spring, summer, and 

 autumn. They haunt the recesses of the banks, or lie in 

 the mud and weeds during the day, leaving these places 

 only at night for food. Ponds, canals, and alluvial rivers 

 are the chief localities for this fish, but few rivers are 

 totally free from them. In some, however, they abso- 

 lutely swarm, and even in small brooks they may be taken 

 in quantities amounting to many hundredweight during 

 their runs or migrations. 



The modes of taking these fish vary with the apparatus 

 employed. During the day, sniggling, bobbing, or ledger- 



