100 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



favourite plan with some anglers is to inclose the hooks in a lump of 

 greaves and clay, leaving it on the bottom until some bream more 

 fortunate than the rest secures the hook and finds the " biter bit." 



Some anglers prefer legering for bream as for barbel. When this style 

 of tackle is used, it is advisable also to employ the lightest tackle con- 

 sistent with the strength of stream or depth of water in which one fishes. 

 The form of leger tackle most advantageous is as follows : A yard length 

 of gut, with a swivel in the middle, terminating in a piece of gimp to 

 receive the leger the lead soon wears gut through. The leger should 

 be flat or round, according to whether you may be fishing in still or 

 running water flat for the former and round for the latter and should 

 be covered in wash leather. The reason for distinction in the shapes of 

 the ledger is because in a stream it is sometimes advisable to alter the 

 position of the bait, and when it is required to send it further down 

 stream without drawing the whole up and casting out again, with the 

 round lead it is easy to accomplish this ; one has only to let a little line 

 out so that it bags with the stream, and a sharp jerk sets the perforated 

 bullet rolling down stream to the full extent of the loose line. The hook 

 for legering in a stream is also susceptible of difference from that to be 

 used in still water. The latter may be the ordinary kind recommended 

 for float fishing ; but, for legering in a sharp stream, a stiff bristle is 

 whipped with the hook on to the gut in such a way that it extends to- 

 wards the leger about a quarter of an inch beyond the shank of the 

 hook. Fine wire is probably better than bristle. 



The utility of this arrangement is obvious. When the dew or lob 

 worm is threaded on the hook, it is sustained in its position by the 

 bristles set thus barbwise, and the wash of the stream is totally insuffi- 

 cient to reveal the shank, which otherwise would be the case. The swivel 

 in the midst of the gut trace is to allow the worm to spin or gyrate, 

 which, by reason of its curved form on the hook, it will usually do in a 

 moderate stream, and which movement is very attractive to not only 

 bream, but perch, trout, and chub. 



Another very clean and neat kind of tackle, for which I take the credit 

 of adapting, is composed of two No. 10 hooks, whipped on about half an 

 inch of gut apiece, and the gut in turn whipped on a fine casting line, so 

 that the hooks fall within three-eighths of an inch apart. The bait is two 

 lively brandlings properly toughened. These are so arranged on the 

 hooks that the head of the first is downwards, and curls in with the tail 

 of the other. One shot is placed on the gut about a foot up, and the 

 whole can either be cast, as in fly fishing, or, by attaching the afore- 

 said swivel, may be spun against the stream. It is a most effective- 

 kind of arrangement when the bream shoal in the manner described 



