MINNOW TROLLING. 107 



are drawn after it, till the latter just protrudes out at the mouth ; 

 the needle and gat link must then be passed through the vertebre, 

 as close as can be to the caudal fin, and then drawn tight, which 

 will effectually prevent the bait from shifting its position on the 

 hook, as otherwise it undoubtedly would. 



The bait is then fished with by diving it down the stream, keep- 

 ing it constantly in motion, raising it and letting it sink suddenly, 

 when by reason of the lead within, it will dart about in a very 

 business like manner. This kind of fishing requires a very sen- 

 sitive hand, in order to give way to the fish the instant he lays 

 hold, as unless he gorges it you are not likely to hook him, and if 

 checked he will probably reject the bait. If the fish stops and 

 afterwards mp.kes a second motion, you may conclude he has gor- 

 ged the bait, which will generally be found the case unless the fish 

 is a small one, the latter seldom bolting the bait freely, being 

 unwilling perhaps to overload its stomach with such weighty food. 

 This is not the case with all small trout, which by the way brings 

 to my remembrance an instance of the extreme voracity of one I once 

 caught in the Attery or Ottersey in Cornwall ; the same stream ho- 

 nest Izaak mentions to be so named from the numbers of otters that 

 infested it, as they do even unto this day. But to do them justice, 

 I believe they are not the worst enemies the fish there have to 

 contend with, the misdeeds of the otters being very mercies as 

 compared with the destructive acts of the poachers of that neigh- 

 bourhood. But to return to my subject I was trolling with a 

 diving minnow in a leat communicating with this said river Ot- 

 tersey, when feeling a fish bite and allowing him a fair time to 

 bolt the bait, I struck, and rather harder than I ought to have done 

 it seem?, for the gut snapped off a few inches from the hook and 

 away went the fish, hook and all. Passing the same spot about 

 a quarter of an hour afterwards I again cast in, and instantly had 

 another run this I missed, though not without pulling the fish, 

 which I perceived to be a small trout, above the water and yet 

 the very next cast I made what appeared to be the same identical 

 little fish rose almost the instant the bait touched the water, and 

 this fish I caught, when to my great surprize I discovered that 

 this most determined and voracious little gentleman, who only 

 weighed three ounces and a quarter, was in the actual possession 

 of my lost hook, which minnow and all was sticking fast ia his 

 throat, in addition to the one I caught him with ; the two to- 



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